What are you all playing lately?
I'm always wishing there was more interaction and discussion on the niche Lemmy groups. Today I got to wondering if there were some games we could focus on to help foster our small community. But what is everyone playing or interested in playing? Are we all off playing our own obscure indie favorites or are there some games we share?
Comment below and upvote the ones that you have in common!
Infra. You play as a structural analyst sent in to document damages on infrastructure that was being neglected due to a corrupt governor.
Technically a walking sim, but plenty of puzzles to solve and “mazes” to navigate. The game offers no minimap or objective list. No HUD whatsoever. It’s just you and one action button.
Each area is exquisitely detailed for being a 9-year-old game and visually holds up better than I expected. If you ever wanted to know what it was like to explore abandoned infrastructure, this one’s for you.
Huh glad I posted here, never heard of Infra before. Sounds like something I've been after for a while. I don't have a problem with violence in video games but I do wish there were more great games that weren't based around it.
The concept of Infra sounds really chill. My seldom-gaming partner might even be interested in joining me on the journey.
It's a great game. The story starts out relatively chill, but as you explore and start to uncover things it gets really intriguing.
The devs are working on another game that takes place in the same universe called Obenseuer. It's sincerely one of my favorite games. I get absorbed by it while playing because it's one of the most unique vibes in any game I've played. For me, it's got this melancholic, depressing atmosphere, but is simultaneously funny, quirky, and, somehow, cozy.
I tried it a while back and struggled to get into it. I wondered since if it was just not the right time though bc it looks so much like my kind of game. Might be worth dusting it off again to give it another go.
The biggest struggle I had at first was getting out of video game mode. With no objective trackers and maps being static on walls, it forced me to approach it differently. You have to rely far more on intuition than any other game I’ve played. You also have to pay attention to notes and general signage as it’s your only guide through a large portion of the game. Hopefully it clicks on your second go around. I wish there were more games like it.
INFRA is fantastic!!
Once you're done, check out the dev's next game that takes place in the same universe, Obenseuer: https://store.steampowered.com/app/951240/Obenseuer/
It's one of my favorite games ever.
I've been playing No Man's Sky lately. They just put out an update that let's you build a spaceship that also functions as a base. I'm only just now getting into the game and it came at a perfect time for me because I'm just now getting the point that I need a house to store stuff and I haven't found a planet that I love. Now I don't have to because I can live in a ship built just for me!
Just me and my antlered ewok exploring the black.
Me too! Just picked it up again this week after a five year hiatus. I started a new game and I'm at the part where I have to build a base, but I can't build a ship yet, I think. How did you get around that?
So you can buy a handful of the parts at any of the stations for big numbers, but I managed to make my ship by hunting down the golden buried tech. You get o one part for each module you have to break to mine them so you get a minimum of 3 and the loot it normally has which you can then flip for more parts.
Just to specify, that's the yellow wifi signal when you're using your visor. The ordinary and silver ones just give you the usual.
I'm very deep into a full Rimworld playthrough with the new DLC. Being able to build a grav ship and hop around the world has opened it up so much that I'll probably be on this for a while yet.
Obligatory weird Rimworld storytime: I'm currently super invested in this one character who was a dirt mole kid that some colony guests just left behind. We took her in because why not, and she turned out to be a pretty good melee scrapper with a penchant for losing body parts. No worries, we have bionics, we can rebuild her. So a bionic eye, an arm and a couple of new legs later, she gets her nose shot off by a turret. At the same moment some vampires arrive and want to have a meeting in our spaceship, and offer to make someone a vampire in return. So now I'm pretty sure immortal noseless cyborg vampire girl is going to end up leading the whole colony but I really want to see where this goes. The current leader is the last OG colonist still alive, but she's currently ruling from hospital because a lancer blew the spine right out of her body so her effectiveness is limited until I can source a new spine.
I think the update that came with the expansion changed body part damage. I've got 3 pawns in storage without stomachs. Every social fight seems to cost me a nose.
Yeah I have two without noses now, but I finally got Flesh Shaping unlocked so soon I can start pumping out replacements. Also the leader got a bionic spine, then immediately got both legs blown off in the next fight. She is costing me a lot in advanced components lol.
I'll start - was super into Cult of the Lamb until Nightreign came out and as a Fromsoft addict I haven't really played anything else since.
You should check out !patientgamers@sh.itjust.works, I do a post like this every week and it tends to get decent interaction every time.
Nice, just subscribed!
Clair Obscura, because I enjoy depression.
On continue.
I main The Witcher 3 at the moment, with Skellige mostly done. It took me 4 separate attempts to finally make it that far. The game has a fantastic narrative and the quests backstories are really engaging, with great music to set the mood. Absolutely everything else, from combat, exploration, traversal to upgrades, economy and even UX, is sub-par and a massive chore. I've made it this far this time around only because of some mods.
If I'm in the mood for something lighter I'm playing Super Video Golf. Awesome arcade game emulating the nostalgic feeling of similar games from the 90s.
What mods are you using? If I ever replay it I'll use an overhaul mod I think as I agree with you about the issues the game has. I know Ghost Mode exists as a "vanilla+" mod, but there are some other overhauls like W3eeRedux that go farther.
Nothing too invasive. Container Glow so I don't have to walk around the world with a paper weight attached to my right mouse button. Map Quest Objectives so I don't have to switch quests in the UI just to see that there's a quest objective 2m from me. And finally Over 9000 so I don't have to run back to my stash every 10 minutes.
100% agree with your assessment of Witcher 3. It's gorgeous and well written but yeah the gameplay is so muddy and janky. I did make it through finally too and loved the Blood and Wine expansion dearly in spite of all that.
I'm going to bring Super Video Golf to my crew, that sounds like a nice distraction when we don't have the energy for another run in Nightreign.
I'm couch surfing rn and only have my laptop, so I can really only play Stardew Valley. I've been slowly changing production entirely over to ancient fruit from hops.
I wish could play Satisfactory tho. :{
I finally got my wife hooked on Stardew Valley.
For years I’ve been trying to get her to game with me, never pushing too hard because I didn’t want to put her off the entire thing.
Recently she got laid off and picked up a part time job, so she’s had more free time. I asked her to consider playing Stardew Valley, and she said she would, but kept putting it off.
Finally one Saturday we had some free time and she agreed to give it a shot. I made popcorn, set her up with a Switch on our TV, gave her an hour or so to get started (I was willing to answer questions about controls, but wanted her to learn the game herself because I genuinely believe that’s part of the charm), then joined her with my Steam Deck (not multiplayer, just both of us playing single player).
She enjoyed it, but after that day she didn’t touch it for a while. Then I reminded her the Switch doesn’t need to be on the TV, and suddenly she was playing it every day. She’s fallen deeply into the Stardew Valley rabbit hole and I am so happy. 😁
She broke her foot recently, and when we were at the urgent care center she had the Switch and I had my Steam Deck as we were waiting. The doctor who finally saw us said we were geniuses for being so well prepared for the packed waiting room. 🤣
I've been working through my endless backlog.
I finished Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. It is a masterpiece.
I bought the Sniper Elite Humble Bundle that came with games 1 through 5. I have played through 1 to 4 already. It makes me miss games that can be finished in 20 hours instead of the endless grinds every game expects now. I also miss when Nazis were the evil bad guys.
I'm also playing through Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. This one is set in Hawaii which is a coincidence since I've also just finished Kitchen Sync: Aloha!, a cooking game set in Hawaii.
I'm waiting for a sale on Clair Obscur but I've heard such good things from pretty much everyone
I'm on an everything Battletech-related kick, so Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries is what I'm playing currently.
Oooh I got started on that recently and then pulled away by other things, but I was enjoying it a great deal. The campaign is bit... ehhh. But that actual gameplay is a blast. I love the sense of scale (as long as you don't think too hard about the actual numbers it gives you for the weights of things)
Units of measurement are redefined a thousand years in the future :)
Or not, I dunno. Head Canon. :)
I picked that up on sale a while ago, but have only played a few quick missions. I haven't played MW since the early 2000s, but did play and love Battletech 2019.
Does the MW5 campaign give you the info dump while you are already in the mech and moving towards the objective like the older ones?
For the overwhelming majority of missions, the info is largely contained in a text briefing when selecting missions. For the story beat missions, though, it's voice acted stuff pre- and mid- mission.
I love MW5. Its modding scene is so robust that the game is incredibly customizable to be basically whatever type of experience you want. That being said, my mod list is out of date so getting back into it would be a huge chore right now haha
I am taking a break from working on my Skyrim mod list to try getting into Baldur's Gate 3 for a third time.
My first attempt, I picked "tactician" difficulty, didn't make optimal choices for character build and party composition, and then quit at the end of act 2 when the fights got too hard. Then I tried honour mode, minmaxed everything, was getting by okay but quit in the middle of act two because playing that way was boring.
So now I'm playing at the default difficulty level, just relaxing and having fun like a normal person.
I thought you could switch difficulties out besides honor mode. I did a tactician run with me as wildmage. Shadowbae as cleric, astarion as assassin and laezel as fighter. Didn’t have too tough a time (don’t think I min maxed). Did do every side quest though and also looked up tips for some bosses.
I think I'll do BG3 after I tire of Nightreign. I started it but it didn't click the first time for whatever reason. I loved Divinity 2 so I'm sure BG3 will click for me at some point.
How's the Skyrim modding scene these days? Only news I see is about Bethesda's meddling in it.
I finally started playing Stardew Valley more than 15 minutes in the dungeon every once in a blue moon and questioning why the fuck I never actually played it before in all this time (I have had it since first available on Steam). It's everything I've ever wanted in this kind of game since playing the first Harvest Moon.
Plus it has a mod that makes everyone furry. :3
Graveyard Keeper. It's kinda like Stardew Valley but you maintain a graveyard, give sermons, enbalm bodies, make alchemy potions, raise the dead to perform menial, tasks, and grow crops!
My only complaint is that there's so many recipes and different stuff to do I need to have a couple tabs of the wiki open.
Macabre Stardew Valley is the game I didn't know I was looking for. Thanks!
Currently Vintage Story, BallisticNG and Deadlock. No one game is currently holding a monopoly on my attention. All very good games, but it does feel a bit like I'm just in a holding pattern waiting for Silksong. It was easier to wait without an official release date xD
DOOM using prboom I started it in Hurt me plenty but quickly had to change to Ultra-Violence because I was thinking "Where's all the monsters?", it's nice to re-play the levels and listen to the good music.
TurtleWoW when I need to relax and do some questing.
Helldivers 2, have played at least a couple times a week since release with a group of friends but have been diving almost every night for the last few weeks as one of our other friends is on XBox and finally gets to join us!
Unfortunately he has only had time for one dive so far, but hopefully he has plenty of time tonight.
Oh I was doing a bunch of Helldivers 2 as well until Nightreign. Such a chaotic blast. The new city stuff on the maps looks like crazy fun.
City stuff can be fun or frustrating!
The tall buildings can block orbitals, line of sight for large stuff can make killing shots a lot more difficult than on most maps, and trying to cut through buildings can lead to walking right into a horde of infantry type stuff. On the other hand, watching the human support teams get a kill or two before dying can be pretty entertaining!
Cyberpunk 2077
Stardew Valley
Hades 2
Diablo 4
These are the ones I’m rotating between most right now. I’ve also got Doom (2016) and BG3 on rotation, but haven’t hit them in a while.
The Steam Deck has been such a great addition. Especially being able to stream titles like CP2077 from the PC for better graphical fidelity and battery life.
Edit: Oh! And Geometry Wars 3! It’s so good on the Steam Deck! It says “Playable” but I genuinely don’t know why, it seems completely supported as far as I can tell.
Some of my favorites right there! I guess I should try Geometry wars since it seems like we're on the same page.
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved and later Geometry Wars 2 were some of my favorites one the Xbox 360. Dual-stick shooters with awesome, simple, crisp graphics that, during the transition from CRT to LCD TVs, made LCDs look GORGEOUS.
3 is a phenomenal addition to the series (if relatively old now). It has all the modes from the previous two, and an “adventure” mode. Fantastic pick-up-and-put-down title to play when you have a bit of time or need something to distract the ADHD brain. And it’s cheap!
Hades 2 Death Stranding 2 Overwatch 2
And to keep with the theme, thinking about checking out Grounded 2 next week.
Clone Hero! I missed how much fun Guitar Hero was
Mostly Elden Ring and Automobilista 2. I finally got Shadow of the Erdtree but had to take a bit to git gud git less bad again before diving into the Land of Shadow, not helped at all by the fact that the character I wanted to go in with was not at all well-suited to fight Mohg. Still, I'm enjoying it a great deal. The map design is phenomenal, I keep just stopping to look at the landscape for a bit
Automobilista is just the go-to for having a game with some other friends who also like racing sims at the moment. It's not my favourite in terms of driving physics, but it's good enough, the car classes being relatively balanced is nice for variety in races, and I'm honestly really enjoying trying out all the South American tracks that I've never heard of
I consider myself a Souls veteran and more toward the 'gud' side of the scale but Shadow of the Erdtree was a real kick in the teeth. I mean I loved it but Fromsoft didn't hold back on the difficulty. Even with all of the new collectable powerups it's burly as hell.
On the driving topic - maybe you can help me. I've got a bunch of racing games but am having trouble picking one. It'd be nice to have one that's easy enough to get into but realistic enough that it takes a while to master.
Putting the blackgaol knight where he is is a frankly hilarious statement of how the DLC is gonna be. I'm good enough at the games to beat everything without cheese or summons (I do think that summoning is fine, I just don't personally enjoy it unless it's an NPC I like), but I find that some Elden Ring bosses push the edge of what I have the reaction speed for. Morgott and Maliketh were particularly troublesome for me. I haven't gotten to anyone in the DLC that has hit that mark of pace yet, but I assume someone will
I'm not super knowledgeable on racing games, but I'm happy to try to help! What have you got available and what do you like?
Striving for Light. It's the only real hybrid I have found between an arpg and a roguelite. A bite-sized PoE if you will.
Otherwise, in more or less the same genre, Magicraft (my GOTY 2024) and a tiny bit of Hellclock, tho it has yet to hook me because so far it's boringly easy - I'm still very early in the game.
Roguelites are gradually becoming my favorite genre - going to have to check Magicraft out. Sounds like it has some of the same elements that I loved in Noita?
It's top down Noita, or BoI+Noita. I have 1k hours and am still discovering new effects and combinations every run, it's nuts!
Pro tip: I wanted to milk it for all its got, so after reaching endgame content, I started a new toon and limited myself to 2 wands and no upgrades to life mana, starting stuff like keys or coins. Just "tentacle girl" updates and it's been really good. I die because of mistakes, not because of balance. Otherwise, you'll get a bit too strong and steamroll every enemy and boss at some point (100 hours in or so).
Recently finished mullet madjack, decided to replay quake 2
Huh never heard of Mullet Madjack, looks pretty nuts
It's a high paced fps in general. The original mode is semi roguelite, meaning, you have to go every 10 floors in order to get a checkpoint. If you don't, back to the previous checkpoint and get different perks for the run.
For me the whole cyberpunk esque thing about it sold me. And is also a quite unusual sort of shooter.
Only a tad short, that is my biggest complaint (but price does match the time so I can't say much)
Nightreign had me, I've gone back to it for the everdark bosses, but I find the run before the bosses the most fun.
Went back to elden ring because of it, also picked up enshrouded and have been playing that with my coop group.
Balatro and slay the spire get a run a day
Yeah I'm there with you on Nightreign, the run is really fun. There's something about it that is making me start to think that's actually the way Fromsoft games work the best. I still have a few issues with the game in general but crafting your build around the loot and its passives is super satisfying.
I'm playing through the first Death Stranding, which I've really been enjoying. The gameplay did not hook me initially, but it grew on me. I'm a sucker for a good narrative and so I progressed because I wanted to know what was happening.
I'll want to play the second one afterwards, but I'm thinking that I'll take a break in between. Maybe try Sword of the Sea? It looked pretty cool.
Yeah I've tried it and bounced off it a couple of times, but I get the sense that it's one of those games where eventually I'll push past the beginning part and then become obsessed with it for a while lol. Alien: Isolation was one of those too.
I really loved Death Stranding, need to get back into it. I had the same experience but then I think I was out of town for a week and for some reason never picked it back up. It's just so melancholic and meditative sometimes and almost always has that cinematic beauty.
Far cry 6. It sucks. I love gta style open world with lots of vehicles and weapons. It’s great for that. The missions are all the same. Go here, fetch this. Kill this person. Go back to another person.
Edit: finally finished the game after 45 hours. What a terrible ending.
I enjoyed every Far Cry game up until 6. 6 is just a steaming pile of shit.
I like the gunplay but once you get an armor piercing shotgun everyone just immediately dies. I’m 40 hours in and the game feels like a chore. I’m speeding through the faction missions just so I can see how Giancarlo Esposito dies.
Ubisoft finally engineered the fun out of that franchise too eh?
Yeah :/ another shallow ocean. I like open world games and games that give you lots of freedom. The mechanics of that are all in the game. Gunplay is fun, vehicle driving is meh. Selection of vehicles is kind of meh. Plot is meh. The missions are 50% fetch quests 50% go here and break into 1/3 different environments with enemies and kill everyone there.
I won’t buy another Ubisoft game after this. I got this game 85% off and it feels like I overpaid.
Rogue Trader. I'm up to chapter 3 and its dragging a bit.
Grounded 2. Very early early access but its still a ton of fun.
Peak. Mostly when my friend is available for co-op but I do solo runs here and there.
Hades 2 but its mostly on the back burner until 1.0 for now.
I've got a bunch of virtual novels, Pathologic 2, The Forest, and more in my backlog but with Silksong finally releasing next week they'll probably be saying there for a while.
Easy Red 2. Sandbox WW2 game with a bunch of campaigns, mods, and a mission/map editor. Great developer who updates the game frequently.
It's not a visually amazing game or anything, but if you want to have Americans in German Uniforms fighting Chinese paratroopers in Stalingrad with M16s then you can. Its great
Huh that actually sounds amazing - you had me at sandbox WW2. Is it worth getting a bundle or is the base game enough to get started?
The base game is fine if you just want to see how it plays. But if you're big into WW2 and you actually end up liking the game, the bundles are well worth it.
The base game has several campaigns including Normandy 1944, Pacific, Italy and Tunisia. If you buy the bundles you get Stalingrad, France 1940 and the Bulge, and the Shanghai-Nanking campaigns of the Second Sino-Japanese war.
You also get a bunch of new weapons, vehicles, and additional props for map making and creating missions.
Skyrim, next to my wife who is experiencing it for the first time. And OSRS because always
this is one where I kinda want to start again to do things more correctly but at the same time I can easily respec. I played with no addons to and Im tempted to start again with addons.
I was playing FF7 rebirth ....got about 60 hours in and Im having trouble beating the game. Its just so boring with the sidequests. And the map is insanely big with nothing but a couple of monsters. They definitely padded out the game. Its not a bad game and it has its moments.
So I started to play Detlarune after my wife got it for me for my Bday. Got through the 1st chapter and im really enjoying it. Im just going to play that now and maybe come back to ff7....if I feel like it.
I’ve been playing Against the Storm (just reforged the gold seal), 7 days to die, and lately Fields of Mistria. Occasionally I go back to Enshrouded, Palworld and Two Point Museum. And I still haven’t finished Baldurs Gate 3, every time I take a break, I have an urge to start anew instead of continuing an old save.
I've been replaying Final Fantasy 9, but this time on my phone with Duckstation and a BSP-D8 controller
Noita. Simple and clever.
And Rimworld.
Most games I'll play and it'll be one and done for me, never pick them up again. But I always go back to Noita. Something about it still feels so mysterious. Even though I feel like I have the gist by now there are so many possibilities and things I'm sure I still haven't uncovered. Such a gem that deserves more attention.
Currently replaying Borderlands 3 and playing Horizon Forbidden West.
Did you play Zero Dawn previously? How are you finding Forbidden West, play-wise? It feels "heavier" to me, somehow. Maybe I just got used to fully-upgraded Aloy in HZD...
I finished Horizon Zero dawn and I just started playing Forbidden West. I can't give you a detailed impression but so far, I like it.
Grim dawn for nostalgia. Enjoying the new classes and dealing lightning, fire and ice damage.
Red Dead Redemption 2.
I picked it up a yeat or two ago, played through it, and loved it. When RDR was finally released for the PC, I immediately dove into it.
RDR was ezcellent, but it made me crave RDR2 gameplay, which was far deeper. So now I'm riding around in the epilogue, completing challenges and collecting every piece of clothing, saddle, and trinket.
I should probably dive into RDR2 again, I always start it at the wrong time and always seem to bounce after the extensive intro and tutorial. I suppose it all probably opens up right after that, right?
I recently finished Dragon Age Inquisition, and then started Powerslave: Exhumed.
I never played any of the original versions so it’s a completely new experience for me. Enjoyable so far - it’s an interesting historical link between classic metroidvania and 90s FPS, like a proto-Metroid Prime in some ways.
I do wish they’d added a quick save button to this modern version, though.
Huh I never heard of Powerslave but your description "classic metroidvania and 90s FPS" makes me think it might need to go on my list
I’ve been on a Luanti (formerly Minetest) kick past few days, mostly playing Mineclonia.
It has some small QoL upgrades over the original imo. Could benefit from controller support but scratches the itch well enough as a palate cleanser.
After this probably looking at Dungeons of Hinterberg in my backlog.
I never did get into Minecraft - is Mineclonia a better place to start if I did get into it?
Only insofar that it’s free.
It does suffer from FOSS (fully open source software)-iness, since you have to install Luanti, then go into the content downloader (like Minecraft’s mod store) and install Mineclonia.
There’s also less documentation on Luanti than on Minecraft but Mineclonia is pretty 1:1 so you can use the MC wiki for pretty much everything.
So actually now that I write it out yes lol, that way you’re not having to pay $30 to see if you like a game.
ETA: Luanti also has Voxelibre, which started as a Minecraft clone but has diverged into its own game. Also less documentation but if you want different gameplay there’s a lot more you can install for free!
ive been boring and pretty much only playing hypixel skyblock, basically an mmorpg lol. some mario party with my girlfriend too
Man I haven't been on Hypixel Skyblock in ages! It was really fun being there for all the community moments back when Technoblade was rocking the server.
Unfortunately the grind got too much so I ended up stopping playing and instead spending time helping out on Skyblock Addons. But once new content was locked behind skills rather than items it became impossible to work on new features, so that was my sign to leave.
totally fair, it takes a special type of autism to enjoy the grinds that i do lol. wish i was around for the early days for sure
sorry but I have been a dillatant lately while I install the smallest games from the great on steamdeck filter of steam. One funny note was I had hunter stories and found it ultimately relied to much on rng and did not let me build up enough from things just made available. I think they should have had an option to buy normal eggs maybe level gating the type and then left the rng for rare powered up types. Anyway booted that out and just started palworld and wow is that ever the opposite. Does not explain stuff much at all whereas monster hunter stories was basically on rails. eventually I will get to the witcher at which point I likely will have to start deciding what stuff I want to take off if im to get anything larger on it.
EDITED - ooh. forgot to mention one stand out. nino kuni II revenant kingdom. Im playing each thing a bit and then putting on a new game but nino kuni had this very sorta fast casual fighting style that reminds me a lot of kindom hearts and I had a hard time stopping. Will likely be the game I binge once im good with what I have on the deck.
Currently, Hollow Knight, since Silksong finally comes out next week. Before that, a split between Kerbal Space Program and Nine Sols.
Gone back to working on Monster Hunter Rise with my son.
Railroader. Lots of heavily-modded Railroader.
What's heavily-modded Railroader like? From my experience with other modded games, lots of furries, I'd presume.
Nah, lots of train nerds doing train nerd stuff.
Surprisingly little Thomas fan-mods tho.
Recently picked up Enshrouded and giving that a go. Thinking of checking out the new update to No Man's Sky but haven't redownloaded it yet.
I was worried the first hour or two of Enshrouded I wouldn't like it, felt very similar to Ark and Grounded, which I wasn't much of a fan of due to the progression of those games moving at a snails pace and being brutalized by most enemies early on. But I'm happy to say I haven't felt the same disappointment from Enshrouded, sitting around 10-ish hours in. My character looks like a hobo dressed in whatever trash they could find hitting enemies with a crooked stick, but the combat feels pretty fun (instead of brutal) and there's interesting loot all over to keep the carrot and stick centers of my brain engaged. "Oh look, a slightly more interesting crooked stick!"
I like it so far.
I've got that on my list with my group! Do you think we'll like it if we liked 7 Days to Die and Valheim? Would love something in that style but still a little different than either of those.
I honestly don't know because I didn't play either of those. I'd say it looks pretty similar to Valheim but I have no idea how the combat feel compares.
I'm trying to 100% tropico 6 before the new one comes out.
Also been playing various games in luanti, minecloneia specifically
The Finals - always
Slay the Spire
Coral Island
Very different vibes, all bangers
I've been on a Lethal Company kick for a few months. I've been getting super involved in the "high quota" scene, where people try to get the highest quota possible. It involves a lot of crazy tech and good team work, and I'm really enjoying it.
currently going trough my personal backlog of games I've always wanted to play but never could. Never had my own console or a good enough PC. bought myself a steam deck and I've been an absolute degenerate doing nothing but playing video games. Just finished all 3 watch dogs (+ DLCs), currently working my way trough horizon zero dawn then will play forbidden west. Also simultaneously playing expedition 33, fallout 4, sleeping dogs and the witcher 3. I know its not high art but watch dogs is my favourite game and franchise I wish ubisoft would do something more with it.
I actually liked Watch Dogs: Legion a lot more than I thought I would. That game had a lot of gameplay mechanics in it that were just super fun and I think would have made games like Cyberpunk a lot better if they had them too.
This community is kind of in the shadow of all the other gaming communities, it doesn't feel like it has a strong identity to separate it. There's already plenty of weekly threads elsewhere to discuss what we're playing and I already feel like I repeat myself between !gaming@beehaw.org and !patientgamers@sh.itjust.works. Do we need another one here? But sure.
I've been playing through the Ninja Gaiden series lately. Finished Ninja Gaiden Black and Ninja Gaiden 2 on normal, playing on Xemu and Xenia Canary emulators respectively. Currently playing through Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge from the master collection, though I'm not sure I will finish it.
NG3RE should have the best combat in the series. The fundamentals are better than ever, Ryu is more fluid in his movements than ever and the combo strings are more flexible than ever. It just... I dunno. It doesn't feel as good, satisfying or just fun. NGB had extremely precise, measured and deliberate combat, albeit slower than the later games. NG2 was an unbalanced mess, but it had a visceral pleasure when it clicked that is simply unparalleled. NG3RE changes the formula a lot, and not always for the better. Trying to play for Steel On Bone counters is what the game wants you to do, but it's more reactive and less fun than previous games. And the animations aren't as satisfying as the executions in NG2. NG3RE also has even worse bosses, which is a damn feat considering the series has some real stinkers.
And let's not even get into the atrocious story, which manages to be maximally bad and lame but without ever crossing over into "so bad it's good" territory. The Call of Duty or Ghost Recon-esque military special agent framing also ruins the vibe, and the boring and terrible level design makes me miss the wildly varied and interesting locations of NG2.
I really don't know if I'll finish it, all I want to do really is go back and play NGB and NG2 again. At least I found FiendBusa's "Black" mod for it, that makes it a bit better.
Yeah I don't see many posts here so I was wondering if quizzing the community might inspire some new interactions and maybe help develop the identity here. No need to force in weekly things that other subs are doing.
I used to love Ninja Gaiden - what would be the best place to start? NG2 then? Unbalanced but satisfying sounds okay to me.
Sorry if I came off as dismissive, my first paragraph was just me musing on why this community in particular hasn't taken off.
So here is my opinion on the series: Ninja Gaiden Black is an adventure game with great combat. You have exploration, platforming and even an almost Metroidvania-like hub area you backtrack back and forth through. It's occasionally almost Zelda-like rather than purely an action game. Playing it on Xemu also offsets one of its flaws - stingy checkpoint placement. Just use (but don't abuse) save states and don't worry about it. It runs flawlessly on Xemu without any specific setup, and you can set rendering resolution to like x6 and it will look great.
Ninja Gaiden 2 (Xbox 360 version) feels like the crack cocaine of action games. Or I dunno, freebase Meth maybe. It feels like the best action game ever 50% of the time and the worst action game ever 50% of the time. It's almost pure action, just one murder hallway after another. The sheer amount of enemies, the aggression of the AI and the speed of the combat gives you adrenaline rushes like nothing else. HOWEVER! The game was rushed to release as the devs chased a bonus payout, and the game is blatantly not playtested and balanced properly. It's especially apparent in the second half of the game. I developed a sort of love-hate relationship with it: I screamed at it in frustration more often than most games but I also cannot wait to go back.
Setting it up in Xenia Canary was much more fiddly than using Xemu. The game must be hard capped at 60 FPS. You need to tweak a bunch of config settings to minimise the occurrence of an audio bug where sound might cut out until you restart (I can send you my config if you want). If you want to increase rendering resolution by x3 you need to accept some minor graphical glitches (primarily in the first couple of chapters).
Don't play NG3RE unless you've already played the other two and can't wait for NG4. Otherwise just pick your flavour - more adventure game and better balance or an unbalanced but beautiful mess? I should also note that both games are fairly short, my NGB playthrough was 14h and NG2 was 13h, so it's not a big commitment to play one after the other.
This community is kind of in the shadow of all the other gaming communities, it doesn’t feel like it has a strong identity to separate it. There’s already plenty of weekly threads elsewhere to discuss what we’re playing and I already feel like I repeat myself between !gaming@beehaw.org and !patientgamers@sh.itjust.works. Do we need another one here? But sure.
What a helpful addition to the discourse!
I just don't know that the fragmentation is super helpful at this level of users, we have what - 4 medium sized basically interchangeable gaming communities? I am not as committed to community consolidation as some other uses but it still feels like concentrating interaction would be better than spreading it out at this point in time.
Previously was playing through all of Mech Warrior 5 Mercs. Lately though its been many hours on Mudrunners with the mods and DLC. Its a real challenge in some areas. Had to use the boom grappler extended to one side to stop truck tipping over around the side of the canted narrow mountain roads.
Oh I gotta boot up Mudrunners again, I was really surprised how much I enjoyed that one.
Yeah, its great. The soft ground physics still amazes me.
It took me time to get into it, and seemed a bit dull at first with the slow tasks you had to complete in the drab Russian colour scheme, but gets challenging as you progress, to where you get invested in the outcome.
Adding the American Truck DLC and adding new vehicles and Maps from the community (such as Autumn or Dangerous Roads) brightens the game up too.
Its probably my favourite game now since many of the tasks are actually hard and It ends up being a challenging mix of strategy, ingenuity, fuel management, carefully planned wheel placement, and some luck :)
Last Epoch, an indie ARPG similar to Diablo or Path of Exile. I have about 450 hours in it (since the early access phase) but hadn't played it for over a year. Now that I'm boycotting Microsoft/Xbox I recently jumped back in and have been enjoying the impressive amount of stuff that's been added post-launch.
I play this kind of game "casually", by which I mean I don't look up build guides. To me the most fun part of the game is developing a good enough understanding of the mechanics to be able to find success building whatever type of character it is that I want to play. For someone with this type of approach I think LE is great and very flexible! It's the only game I've reviewed on Steam and years later I still recommend it!
I've been thinking about finding a Diablo alternative. D4 just feels kind of samey and uninspired, even if they managed to bring the art style back to its roots. Going to look this up! I enjoy doing these things blind too, and figuring it all out on my own, at least for the first playthrough.
I'm working on getting all the ending dialogues for Metal Slug Tactics right now. It's a fun turn-based tactics take on the Metal Slug franchise with a dash of roguelike. The graphics maintain the series' hand-animated aesthetic and the sprites are super-cute, but the most rewarding part is unlocking skills and weapons for each character to allow bigger and more ridiculous combo moves. Other than that, Stormworks, my "second job".