The Steam Thread

[Thomkal]

While we are on the topic of 4X games, Steam is having a 4X Fest this week-many of them are on sale, so worth checking out if you have some on your wishlist

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Carman Bulldog

I can't recall, but was it on here where I read about a new (either relatively recent release or pending release) 4x game that can be played in one sitting? I think I saw the comparison calling it basically Civilization-lite that can be played in 3 hours. I Googled it, which tells me that this might be Humankind, but for some reason, I thought it was an upcoming release and not a game from a few years ago.

If its a space 4x game, maybe the just released in April, Hyper Empire?


Save 40% on Hyper Empire on Steam

[Thomkal]

Looks like most of the Anno games are 75% off or more on Steam right now

[Atocep]

I'm close to wrapping up Phantom Liberty. It's honestly a borderline masterpiece. The overall state of the Cyberpunk right now compared to launch is crazy. If it launches close to its current state it goes down as one of the best games ever.

Phantom Liberty has some amazing and complex characters and Dogtown is the most interesting district in the game. The added skill tree didnt do much for my build but it would be potentially gamechanging for others.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Atocep

I'm close to wrapping up Phantom Liberty. It's honestly a borderline masterpiece. The overall state of the Cyberpunk right now compared to launch is crazy. If it launches close to its current state it goes down as one of the best games ever.

Phantom Liberty has some amazing and complex characters and Dogtown is the most interesting district in the game. The added skill tree didnt do much for my build but it would be potentially gamechanging for others.

I totally agree. I really enjoyed Cyberpunk, especially the DLC. A great game!

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Atocep

The overall state of the Cyberpunk right now compared to launch is crazy.

It would only have to be, you know, playable to cover this sentence.

[Thomkal]

Space Engineers and Darkest Dungeon is free to play thru the weekend

[Thomkal]

Sorry missed one-Path of Exile 1 and the still in early access Path of Exile 2 is free to play through Labor Day

[Thomkal]

a game called CarX Street is free to play this weekend on Steam

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Atocep

I'm close to wrapping up Phantom Liberty. It's honestly a borderline masterpiece. The overall state of the Cyberpunk right now compared to launch is crazy. If it launches close to its current state it goes down as one of the best games ever.

Phantom Liberty has some amazing and complex characters and Dogtown is the most interesting district in the game. The added skill tree didnt do much for my build but it would be potentially gamechanging for others.

It's really fun although I found it a bit easy in just normal interactions with gangs. Props to the company for not just abandoning the project and actually turning it into a really damn good game.

[Thomkal]

Dune Awakening is free to play on Steam thru the weekend


Squad is also free to play

[dubb93]

Not Steam related per se but Dragon Age Veilguard hit Game Pass so I decided to give it a shot and.....I don't hate it like I was afraid I would.

The art style they chose is terrible though. The character models are awful and the amount of bearded women just chilling in towns as random NPCs is a little jarring. I wouldn't normally mention something like that but they are everywhere. It borders on silly.

[Thomkal]

Endless Legends 2 is now in Early Access


Ship of Heroes, the "spiritual successor" to City of Heroes, is now available for sale-for too much money in mind $60 for base game and first two DLC's and a monthly payment like World of Warcraft:


Ship of Heroes is now available! - Ship of Heroes

[Edward64]

I love the idea of a generation ship (what was that Heinlein book? Will have to reread it). Thanks, will the read the reviews

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Ship of Heroes, the "spiritual successor" to City of Heroes, is now available for sale-for too much money in mind $60 for base game and first two DLC's and a monthly payment like World of Warcraft:


Ship of Heroes is now available! - Ship of Heroes

That's a lot of money for some ugly graphics.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

That's a lot of money for some ugly graphics.

Yeah that was my thought-hero models seem very jerky and simple.

[Thomkal]

Free Weekend of Diablo 4 and a soccer game called Rematch where you can team up with friends in 5 x 5 matches is also free this weekend on Steam

[RainMaker]

Rematch is really fun.

[Thomkal]

Free weekend of Power Wash Simulator on Steam this weekend.

[Thomkal]

Free Weekend of F1 25 on Steam

[Thomkal]

Free weekend of Gunfire Reborn on Steam this weekend

[Thomkal]

Free weekend of Crusader Kings 3 and R.E.P.O. on Steam

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Free weekend of Crusader Kings 3 and R.E.P.O. on Steam

People really bragging on the new CK3 DLC set in Asia. Not really in my wheel house of interest, but it has a bunch of people excited.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

People really bragging on the new CK3 DLC set in Asia. Not really in my wheel house of interest, but it has a bunch of people excited.

I'm curious to see the upcoming HOI4 DLC personally.

(oddly enough, also Asia based)

[AnalBumCover]

For the boardgame fans and Arkham Files fans alike, Eldritch Horror: Digital Edition was just announced for Steam release Q1 2026

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by AnalBumCover

For the boardgame fans and Arkham Files fans alike, Eldritch Horror: Digital Edition was just announced for Steam release Q1 2026

woot!

[Thomkal]

GoG.com has Stasis, a point and click atmospheric point and click horror game is free to claim right now

[Thomkal]

Europa Universalis 5 comes out on Nov 4 and the usual suspects on You Tube have started live streaming it.

[Atocep]

So as part of Amazon's layoffs, they made massive cuts to Amazon Game Studios. They fired the developers of both New World and the upcoming Lord of the Rings MMO.

It particularly sucks for New World. It wasn't very good at launch, but the latest expansion which released just 2 weeks ago was a massive success and brought me back to the game. That expansion made it, hands down, the best MMO out there right now IMO. Player numbers weren't back to release numbers, but were solid and still climbing as word of mouth spread. Amazon has promised to keep the game up and running through 2026, but without content updates (just bug fixes and maintenance), which has effectively killed the game. Keeping things running is likely to try to hold off any potential lawsuits since they had just marketed the expansion and had a bunch of people paying $60 to jump in.

AGS largely appears to be dead, although they plan to still release the Tomb Raider game they're working on. Outside of that it looks like they're going to lean heavily into releasing AI slop.

AGS has to be just a massive failure due to mismanagement. They completely misread the room and didn't know what they were doing. They thought the Amazon name would pull people from Steam to their shitty games launcher. Everyone that tries to compete directly with Steam has failed or are sinking unfathomable sums of money into just staying afloat (Epic). These publishers are trying to create a solution to a problem that gamers don't think exists.

For New World, they had a strong engine and good devs, but didn't understand the MMO market. They rushed a game to release in a crowded MMO market and thought they could just finish the game after launch. Again, they thought the Amazon name would keep them afloat. When you're competing against games that have been out for a decade or longer, that's just not the case. You absolutely cannot release a MMO these days without a solid endgame. Player counts dropped drastically after the first few weeks and 4 years later were just starting to rebound. It didn't help that they didn't have a real plan to make the game profitable. You pay $60 for the base game and even the latest expansion was free as part of that. With no subscription fees they were relying on people buying skins for their gear and/or mounts mostly.

Talented devs getting absolutely screwed over by publisher mismanagement has become the norm in gaming.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Europa Universalis 5 comes out on Nov 4 and the usual suspects on You Tube have started live streaming it.

Not biting this time. I don't know why I just never got into EU4 after playing the other versions a bunch, but I bought it and own 36 DLC's according to Steam. I have played it less than 7 hours. I kept buying DLC's thinking I would eventually want to play it, and it never happened.

[flere-imsaho]

It's amazing how much money Amazon has wasted on various endeavors.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

Not biting this time. I don't know why I just never got into EU4 after playing the other versions a bunch, but I bought it and own 36 DLC's according to Steam. I have played it less than 7 hours. I kept buying DLC's thinking I would eventually want to play it, and it never happened.

I find a lot of their games too mathy and number driven makes it hard to get involved with them.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

I find a lot of their games too mathy and number driven makes it hard to get involved with them.

Fwiw, early reviews suggest to me that this might be the most number-affects-a-number-affects-a-number-affects-a-number orientation game in Paradox history.

[bhlloy]

Which is interesting because they’ve got a trend of dumbing down their recent games and making them less spreadsheet simulators and more RPG loose implementations of the eras they represent.

Which I wouldn’t mind too much for EU to be honest, I’ve come around on CK3 and probably played it more than any game in the last 10 years. I wish they hadn’t made some of the decisions they did or at least gave the option to restore the CK2 mechanic but overall, it’s a hell of a game. And although I played a ton of EU in the past, the realities of the era really limit the replayability. Within reason I wouldn’t mind seeing it get the similar treatment. I’ll have to watch some streams.

[Thomkal]

WarTales and Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 and Cities Skyline 2 are free to play this weekend on Steam

[AnalBumCover]

The Steam Machine coming in 2026

Steam Machine

[Thomkal]

Steam was also nice on my birthday giving me (us) Age of Wonders 4 free this weekend

[Thomkal]

The never big discounted Rimworld is on sale for the rest of the day at Fanatical for 31% off or about $24

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

The never big discounted Rimworld is on sale for the rest of the day at Fanatical for 31% off or about $24

That is definitely rare.

[GrantDawg]

Worth every penny. Play it daily.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

Worth every penny. Play it daily.

I go through runs with it, been on one the past 2-3 weeks. Currently managing my largest ever colony (13 people). I still only own 1 DLC so it has a LOT of life left with me.

edit to add: I'm pretty much ready to pull the trigger on another DLC (probably the one that adds kids instead of the latest one) but I'm holding off since I know that the new HOI4 DLC dropping at the end of the coming week will tie up my PC gaming time probably until the new year.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I go through runs with it, been on one the past 2-3 weeks. Currently managing my largest ever colony (13 people). I still only own 1 DLC so it has a LOT of life left with me.

edit to add: I'm pretty much ready to pull the trigger on another DLC (probably the one that adds kids instead of the latest one) but I'm holding off since I know that the new HOI4 DLC dropping at the end of the coming week will tie up my PC gaming time probably until the new year.

Personally, I think the newest one is the best one. Odyssey adding ships and the ability to move around the map is so enjoyable. I also play with lots of the Vanilla expanded stuff. The only mod I never use is Anomaly.

[Bobble]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

but I'm holding off since I know that the new HOI4 DLC dropping at the end of the coming week will tie up my PC gaming time probably until the new year.

Thank the mod gods for Kaiserreich. I don't think I'd play much HOI4 without it. I find that it feels like I'm a little too "on rails" to recreate WWII as it "should" happen and I have too much knowledge of the future (past?).

[Critch]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

Personally, I think the newest one is the best one. Odyssey adding ships and the ability to move around the map is so enjoyable. I also play with lots of the Vanilla expanded stuff. The only mod I never use is Anomaly.

I've skipped Anomaly and Odyssey, first three really added to the game.

I've just had a colonist go into a murderous rage and punch the head clean off a baby. You dont get that in other games.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Bobble

Thank the mod gods for Kaiserreich. I don't think I'd play much HOI4 without it. I find that it feels like I'm a little too "on rails" to recreate WWII as it "should" happen and I have too much knowledge of the future (past?).

Have you ever tried messing around with the individual nation settings before starting a new game?

I'd never done that until fairly recently (I'm slow, sue me) but it can certainly change the on rails aspect pretty quickly.

[Bobble]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Have you ever tried messing around with the individual nation settings before starting a new game?

I'd never done that until fairly recently (I'm slow, sue me) but it can certainly change the on rails aspect pretty quickly.

Oooh, interesting. I'll try that out.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

Worth every penny. Play it daily.

Rimworld and Minecraft are two of the building blocks of teaching your children about resource management, proactive planning, and goal achievement. I love Rimworld, just don't have the time to play like I used to right now.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Bobble

Oooh, interesting. I'll try that out.

I will say that it took me a few false starts, changing a lot of stuff only to quickly realize "yep, I broke this ... in a bad way" lol. Like "get to late '37 or early '38 and realize I need to change X, Y, and Z". It takes a little while (or it did for me) to figure out the likely ramifications of some of the extreme changes.

The amount of control available in those options really surprised me though, and after getting my head around it a little bit I appreciated having that avenue to explore.

[Thomkal]

For fans of the original Guild Wars MMO, a bit of news: Next month they are releasing Guild Wars Reforged, with updated graphics and game play folding in two DLC's to overall story. It will be $19.99 when it first comes out then 29.99 after that which just still seems to be way to much for a game this old. but the good news for previous owners of the game that it will be free when it releases on Dec 3. Guild Wars 2 is probably my favorite fantasy MMO, so I'm looking forward to the update.


My favorite classic MMO is permanently slashing its price by $10, just as it gets a massive new update

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

For fans of the original Guild Wars MMO, a bit of news: Next month they are releasing Guild Wars Reforged, with updated graphics and game play folding in two DLC's to overall story. It will be $19.99 when it first comes out then 29.99 after that which just still seems to be way to much for a game this old. but the good news for previous owners of the game that it will be free when it releases on Dec 3. Guild Wars 2 is probably my favorite fantasy MMO, so I'm looking forward to the update.


My favorite classic MMO is permanently slashing its price by $10, just as it gets a massive new update

My friend used basically live on that game. Unfortunately he is not in good shape now so he probably won't get a chance to enjoy this.