The Steam Thread

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Atocep

In the latest MMO drama, Ashes of Creation is shutting down. The game was successful on kickstarter way back in 2017. It's a largely PVP centric game with a player driven economy.

The lead developer has a shady history tied to MLMs and people were skeptical from the start, but the game was showing progress. He claims he resigned from the company out of protest after the board voted to shut the game down. However, the only members of the board are the lead dev and his boyfriend.

The game also launched into early access on Steam last month and players felt it had been rushed. It turns out part of their kickstarter was a promise to refund all backers if the game failed to launch. So the early access launch appears to have been done to avoid refunds after pulling in around $3.2 million from kickstarter and around 275k sales on Steam.

I had followed it until it reached early access, which took forever, and likely would have checked it out at some point when there was a good sale but not enthusiastic about its PVP focus

[Thomkal]

Free weekend of XCom2

[Bobble]

Anyone else into the early access game, Menace? Near future tactical game from the developers of Battle Brothers. You command squads, tanks, and mechs against Starship Trooper-like aliens (and probably some other stuff I haven't seen yet). I'm kind of a sucker for these kind of "build-a-battler" military games where you are developing your units' capabilities over time (Battletech, Quasimorph, Darkest Dungeon, etc.)

Would you like to know more?

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Bobble

Anyone else into the early access game, Menace? Near future tactical game from the developers of Battle Brothers. You command squads, tanks, and mechs against Starship Trooper-like aliens (and probably some other stuff I haven't seen yet). I'm kind of a sucker for these kind of "build-a-battler" military games where you are developing your units' capabilities over time (Battletech, Quasimorph, Darkest Dungeon, etc.)

Would you like to know more?

I've been debating picking it up. I definitely will eventually but with Mewgenics coming out Tuesday, Resident Evil later this month, and Crimson Desert next month plus I'm wrapping up Dispatch now I'm leaning toward holding off for a few updates.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Atocep

I've been debating picking it up. I definitely will eventually but with Mewgenics coming out Tuesday, Resident Evil later this month, and Crimson Desert next month plus I'm wrapping up Dispatch now I'm leaning toward holding off for a few updates.

I have been debating myself, but I am just so hesitant at this point to buy anything early access. I can look at the dozens upon dozens of games that sit in my library waiting to come out of early access, not to mention the number that are DOA and never came out of it. The game looks good, but I want to wait to make sure they don't do something crazy like change a mechanic and make the game suck (which I have seen happen).

[Critch]

Originally Posted by Bobble

Anyone else into the early access game, Menace? Near future tactical game from the developers of Battle Brothers. You command squads, tanks, and mechs against Starship Trooper-like aliens (and probably some other stuff I haven't seen yet). I'm kind of a sucker for these kind of "build-a-battler" military games where you are developing your units' capabilities over time (Battletech, Quasimorph, Darkest Dungeon, etc.)

Would you like to know more?

I hadnt heard of it, but then you mentioned it and then I went and checked steam, and then I bought it.

I'd been doing so well at avoiding impulse buys too.

[Bobble]

Originally Posted by Critch

I hadnt heard of it, but then you mentioned it and then I went and checked steam, and then I bought it.

I'd been doing so well at avoiding impulse buys too.

I've never selected a more appropriate devil emoji.

[Thomkal]

An interesting bundle of indy games, assets and more is now available at itch.io. Spend $10 or more and you get over 250 games, and more assets and such. The charity your money will go to is the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota (and north Dakota) which provides legal services to low income residents.


These are mostly small team indy games so you shouldn't expect Triple A type games here, but surely amongst the 250+ you can find some to enjoy.


No ICE in Minnesota by jesthehuman and 651 others - itch.io

[Atocep]

Mewgenics is amazing if you're into rogue-lites

[Fidatelo]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Mewgenics is amazing if you're into rogue-lites

Agree, I picked it up and played for several hours last night. Really fun, and I dig the style and music. I just wish it didn't lean as heavily on the sophomoric sexual jokes, as I much prefer the other more irreverent humour they serve up around them.

[Thomkal]

Free weekend of Virtua Fighter 5

[GrantDawg]

I have gotten so old and fussy. I just have the hardest times getting into games. There just always seem to be some element that frustrates me and makes me want to stop playing.
Anything where you have to constantly click is just out now. My carpal tunnel is just too painful to do constant mouse clicking. Anything that is real time and has a huge number of thing going on at the same time sucks. Let me concentrate on one area. I don't want to be working on one side of a map when my units or whatever is getting annihilated on the other side without any warning. Something steady paced, probably turn based. There is a reason I keep going back to X-com and Battletech over and over again. And please just release a full game! I'm so sick of EA where you learn the mechanics of something and then the "new patch" changes the whole game.

Mostly, get off my lawn.

[Mota]

I've been playing the Atelier games and really enjoying them. They're mostly turned based. Lots of character moments throughout the games. And tons of crafting. The games I think about when I'm at work are rare. ARK: Survival Evolved, Minecraft. Mostly more open games. Atelier is also similar. I want to build the Tier 4 weapon for one of my characters, and it requires a certain component. So if I don't have it, I'll run through the map in those areas looking for the component. Build the item with the best possible ingredients. It feels good when you've made an item that takes you to the next level. Those battles that you struggled with earlier are suddenly easier.
The game feeds you quests that you solve to progress the story, but there are tons of side quests and exploring that you can do on your own. I'm on Atelier Ryza 3 which is supposedly a 65 hour game to complete, I'm at 52 hours but only 48% finished the main story.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

I have gotten so old and fussy. I just have the hardest times getting into games. There just always seem to be some element that frustrates me and makes me want to stop playing.
Anything where you have to constantly click is just out now. My carpal tunnel is just too painful to do constant mouse clicking. Anything that is real time and has a huge number of thing going on at the same time sucks. Let me concentrate on one area. I don't want to be working on one side of a map when my units or whatever is getting annihilated on the other side without any warning. Something steady paced, probably turn based. There is a reason I keep going back to X-com and Battletech over and over again. And please just release a full game! I'm so sick of EA where you learn the mechanics of something and then the "new patch" changes the whole game.

Mostly, get off my lawn.

This is the reality of the modern FOFC. We are all GrantDawg.

[JPhillips]

I've recently been buried in Cyberpunk 2077. I hadn't played for a few years and it's become a really great game. The quests are good, the look and feel is perfect, and the overall story is pretty good for a game.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

This is the reality of the modern FOFC. We are all GrantDawg.

I feel like I was like that when I was 20. I remember playing Warcraft in college and thinking "how the hell am I supposed to manage all this in real time?"

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

I feel like I was like that when I was 20. I remember playing Warcraft in college and thinking "how the hell am I supposed to manage all this in real time?"

There was a short period I could really bang out some Warcraft. Always against the AI though. I have always sucked at multiplayer games, especially one that require that kind of clicking. I could raid for MMO's for awhile. Did a little PVP in those.

[Mota]

I think many of us are in the same age range (I'm 55). My gaming time is more anti-social now, I'm tired of talking to people all day at work. Once my wife goes to bed, I have a few hours where I can play games or listen to music, and the LAST THING I want to do is talk with anybody else. That's probably the biggest change of the 40+ years for me.

[flere-imsaho]

I could never figure out how to play an RTS.

[CrimsonFox]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

I feel like I was like that when I was 20. I remember playing Warcraft in college and thinking "how the hell am I supposed to manage all this in real time?"

It was while playing Warcraft 2....that was the only time I ever ejected the disc, bent it back and forth and frisbee hurled it across the room.

[GrantDawg]

I picked up Flashpoint Campaigns: The Cold War this weekend. Counter based wargame, but deep. Has a really good UI compared to games of the like. I'm heavy into the learning curve right now. They have some heavy documentation, including 60+ pages of step by step handling the first basic tutorial. I really appreciate that. So many of these games are complicated and throw you to the wolves to figure it out.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

I picked up Flashpoint Campaigns: The Cold War this weekend. Counter based wargame, but deep. Has a really good UI compared to games of the like. I'm heavy into the learning curve right now. They have some heavy documentation, including 60+ pages of step by step handling the first basic tutorial. I really appreciate that. So many of these games are complicated and throw you to the wolves to figure it out.

This is why I basically play the same 5 games over and over. If it takes me more than a few minutes to learn the basics I lose interest.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Lathum

This is why I basically play the same 5 games over and over. If it takes me more than a few minutes to learn the basics I lose interest.

I'm absolutely the same way. It is part of what bounces me off games. If it looks like it is going to be too much to learn, I will put it aside to pick back up. 90% of the time that never happens. A good example is Terra Invicta. People raved about that game, but it looks so complicated. I decided to wait till it got out of EA before trying to learn it, but it has been in version 1 for months and I just haven't. I started watch a "Let's play" and was immediately lost.
The reason I feel more comfortable with Flashpoint is because even though it is deep, I have played this style game a lot. It is just learning how the UI works which these tutorials do a good job showing. And it has stats upon stats which you don't normally get to this level in counter type war games.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Mota

I think many of us are in the same age range (I'm 55). My gaming time is more anti-social now, I'm tired of talking to people all day at work. Once my wife goes to bed, I have a few hours where I can play games or listen to music, and the LAST THING I want to do is talk with anybody else. That's probably the biggest change of the 40+ years for me.

That's largely been me for decades.

I play games to get away from people (or peopleing) by & large, never cared much for dealing with another person when gaming.

[Passacaglia]

Anyone here played Microlandia?

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

I have gotten so old and fussy. I just have the hardest times getting into games. There just always seem to be some element that frustrates me and makes me want to stop playing.
Anything where you have to constantly click is just out now. My carpal tunnel is just too painful to do constant mouse clicking. Anything that is real time and has a huge number of thing going on at the same time sucks. Let me concentrate on one area. I don't want to be working on one side of a map when my units or whatever is getting annihilated on the other side without any warning. Something steady paced, probably turn based. There is a reason I keep going back to X-com and Battletech over and over again. And please just release a full game! I'm so sick of EA where you learn the mechanics of something and then the "new patch" changes the whole game.

Mostly, get off my lawn.

Like pretty much everyone else, I totally agree with you.

I have so many, many games on Steam that I buy with the best intentions of playing and just never do. Sometimes I install them, fire them up, and get about 10-15 minutes into the game or tutorial and bail. It's harder and harder to gather the mental fortitude and desire to learn something new and complex.

I still play co-op games once a week with friends - but they tend to be looter-shooters or survival games - things that are really easy to pick up and are familiar.

Solo, I have been largely playing Slay The Spire for the last 5-6 years. Every once in a while I'll really get into a turn-based game, turn-based RPG, or some action-RPG, but those come in spurts.

Of late I've been playing "Void War" which is just FTL with a Warhammer 40k skin without the Warhammer 40k license.

Terra Invicta looked amazing. I backed as a Kickstarter and was super excited for it. I have read through some how-to-play and it sounds really cool and interesting, but completely overwhelming.

Once I break out of my "Void War" era, I may try "Star Wars Outlaws".

[Lathum]

I still play a ton of Slay the Spire. 95% of my gaming is perfect team in OOTP but this cycle is winding down and I am losing interest.

I'll fire up Balatro occasionally and will play some FBCB. A few weekends ago when we were snowed in I played a bunch of Roller coaster Tycoon 3 campaigns, that was fun and from time to time do Banished.

I would love to get back in to WoW as I have heard it is much friendlier to single player now, I just get so totally overwhelmed when I try and start out.

[Thomkal]

Rival Stars: Horse Racing which a few here have mentioned, is 50% off or $20 thru the 3rd of May

[JPhillips]

If you're interested in Let Them Trade you can get it and one other game for 10$ on Fanatical.

https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-an...d-build-bundle

[Fidatelo]

I had to do a refund on Let Them Trade because I couldn't figure out how to even get through the tutorial on my Steam Deck, some of the keys just didn't map and I couldn't do the required actions to progress.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Anyone here played Microlandia?

It is 40% off, and I couldn't pass up the $2.80 savings, so I am in!

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

I couldn't pass up the $2.80 savings, so I am in!

That was me basically me today pulling the trigger on one of the Rimworld DLCs. They pretty much don't DO sales, so 10% off was as cheap as it was likely to get.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

That was me basically me today pulling the trigger on one of the Rimworld DLCs. They pretty much don't DO sales, so 10% off was as cheap as it was likely to get.

Speaking of Rimworld prices, not sure how long it will last but Fanatical has it at 27% off or $25+ which is about the lowest I've seen for it, Imagine how many people would buy it if it went 50% off someday

[Bobble]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Speaking of Rimworld prices, not sure how long it will last but Fanatical has it at 27% off or $25+ which is about the lowest I've seen for it, Imagine how many people would buy it if it went 50% off someday

I just picked up the latest DLC for Rimworld (Odyssey) on Fanatical for 13% off so thanks for that.

[Thomkal]

Welcome and thank Jon for the heads up on the DLC's

[Mota]

I want to get into Rimworld, but it confuses me. Same with Dwarf Fortress. They seem like my type of game, but I need to "get it", and I don't yet.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Mota

I want to get into Rimworld, but it confuses me. Same with Dwarf Fortress. They seem like my type of game, but I need to "get it", and I don't yet.

I totally get that. I was able to get over that learning curve from Rimworld, but never for Dwarf Fortress.

That being said, it's been a good while since I last played Rimworld and think I could struggle picking it back up again.

Back when I was single, I would have a couple buddies come over and we'd try to learn to play together. That was super helpful in getting over the hump of complex games - like Crusader Kings. Now, with kids and limited time (and energy) it's tough to climb that hill.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Lathum

I still play a ton of Slay the Spire. 95% of my gaming is perfect team in OOTP but this cycle is winding down and I am losing interest.

I'll fire up Balatro occasionally and will play some FBCB. A few weekends ago when we were snowed in I played a bunch of Roller coaster Tycoon 3 campaigns, that was fun and from time to time do Banished.

I would love to get back in to WoW as I have heard it is much friendlier to single player now, I just get so totally overwhelmed when I try and start out.

I have Slay The Spire and Balatro on my iPad and I play both a lot on there. They're perfect games to pass idle time with. I'll still fire up Slay the Spire on my PC every now and then, but since I can play it on the iPad I try to spend my PC time on other games.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

That being said, it's been a good while since I last played Rimworld and think I could struggle picking it back up again.

I kinda have that trouble. I've got around 300 hours with it, not sure I've ever made it past the mid-game in any playthrough.

My sequence with it has long been play a few days, miss a day or two, play a few more ... and then get sidetracked for weeks/months.

Which leads to me starting over since I don't always remember the storyline in my head, etc.

Added a few mods (from the Vanilla Expanded line of popular mods) for the very first time, borderline overwhelming right now.

[dubb93]

Phil Spencer the head of Xbox retired and his #2 is gone as well. They went with someone that has never worked in the industry and apparently doesn’t even play games at all as his replacement. She’s worked for instacart and Facebook and most recently was the head of AI at Microsoft.

I think it’s apparent they needed a fresh vision, but I think someone with experience at the highest level and outside of the company would have been the logical choice. That’s a bold move Cotton. Let’s see how it plays out.

[bhlloy]

I'm sure that vision won't involve spamming microtransactions and more mini-games with key features locked behind paywalls and pay to play. No siree.

[Bobble]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

I'm sure that vision won't involve spamming microtransactions and more mini-games with key features locked behind paywalls and pay to play. No siree.

I'd be shocked if someone who doesn't give a crap about gaming came in an prioritized profits while completely ignoring the gaming experience. Shocked, I tell you!

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Bobble

I'd be shocked if someone who doesn't give a crap about gaming came in an prioritized profits while completely ignoring the gaming experience. Shocked, I tell you!

Are you telling me Bobby Kotick didnt do a great job at activision?

[Mota]

Originally Posted by dubb93

Phil Spencer the head of Xbox retired and his #2 is gone as well. They went with someone that has never worked in the industry and apparently doesn’t even play games at all as his replacement. She’s worked for instacart and Facebook and most recently was the head of AI at Microsoft.

I think it’s apparent they needed a fresh vision, but I think someone with experience at the highest level and outside of the company would have been the logical choice. That’s a bold move Cotton. Let’s see how it plays out.

From having worked with Microsoft at pretty deep levels for many years, she's probably really good at networking, and booking meetings with higher ups to let everybody know about all her accomplishments.

Some of the worst people that I worked with kept moving up and up in that company, even though they were terrible at their actual jobs.

[dubb93]

I don’t know where the actual video game thread is and I can’t be bothered to search for it so I’m just gonna keep using this one. I’ve waited my entire life for Indiana to have a great team in a video game and this year’s College Football game finally delivered.

I just fired up my dynasty and EA decided to give Mendoza a season ending injury in the 4th game of the season. What the hell EA? Wonder if he comes back for his senior season now?

My son told me to just restart but honestly if I do that I’m 99% sure I’ll never play it again.

[Fidatelo]

Recently discovered a game called Once Upon A Galaxy, it's on mobile and Steam. Made by a lot of the same team as Storybook Brawl and it shows (in a good way). They seem to have battle passes, time-locked heroes, and skins for monetization, which at this point I'm too early to say if they prevent meaningful progression in the late game. But I'm having fun until I potentially hit that wall.

[HerRealName]

I've been playing Rising Star 2 like it's 2007 all over again.

[Mota]

Originally Posted by HerRealName

I've been playing Rising Star 2 like it's 2007 all over again.

It's a bit repetitive, but still super fun. I've never broken into the mainstream though, still stuck in the local bars.

[Thomkal]

Free weekend of Hell Let Loose

[Thomkal]

Free weekend of Parkitect and Rift Breaker on Steam