After taking a couple of days to digest the ending I got in Not for Broadcast, I’m hoping to go back and replay it differently sometime soon. One moment in particular, I need to approach differently.
Man, that game is equal parts hilarious and fucked up. Not much I can say without spoiling it, but it’s really worth a shot if you like dystopian fiction (especially the kind that starts just before everything slowly goes to shit), dark humour, satirical takes on news media, or just narrative-focused games in general with a fair amount of choices and consequences which gradually play out over time.
Like, there are 14 main endings and within all of those there are also “mini news stories” which play out over the game that have a wealth of different outcomes themselves. The amount of variables is pretty impressive, honestly.
Anyway, now I’m playing Do Not Feed The Monkeys for a similar darkly humourous experience of “fuck with the people on the other side of the camera”.
Still playing BG3, nearing the end of Act 2, but also picked Elden Ring back up. I still have stuff to do in the main game so I’m not getting the expansion yet, but wanted to know what I was doing when I do.
Since I finished erdtree I jumped into DMC5. Combat feels so awkward in this game and it’s so clear the control schemes are from ages ago. It’s had me thinking about whether I want to just pick up another game on my list like BG3 or cyberpunk 2077 and finally play through it, or if I want to just start a new character or re-do the erdtree DLC (made a copy of my SL110 char before beginning DLC) so I can do all the new content properly. Still slowly working my way thru DMC5 but I’m like 7 missions in and while it’s getting better as I unlock skills it just doesn’t feel smooth.
I played the hell out of the first DMC back in the day. Just over and over again, even on Dante Must Die and I almost never do hard modes. Apparently I really liked the relatively toned-down gameplay and setting, and the RE-inspired tone, because I never really enjoyed 2-4 the same way (2 goes without saying).
I largely ignored the series but spontaneously got the interest to play 5 a year or two ago. I did beat it, but it did not do anything for me. I was very glad to be done with it.
Slowly coming to the end of Pacific Drive, which has been mostly great. I think I’ll wrap it up at the perfect time, because I’m not quite tired of it but can feel my interest beginning to wane.
I have also been playing Sea of Stars. I had one foot fully over the edge to give it up during its painfully slow opening, but I just barely made it long enough to get through the first dungeon and found myself beginning to admit that it was becoming fun. I can’t remember the last time my feelings for a game pivoted so hard, because once it opens up it is a ton of fun. I’m glad I was able to stick with it.
I watched a friend play Sea of Stars and really enjoyed it! I hope it’s a good adventure for you the rest of the way.
Something to note if you’re in it for combat, the difficulty plateaus a bit towards the middle/end. And if you like this one, their other game, The Messenger, is tied to it lore wise, although it’s a different genre.
Leveled a few more characters in World of Warcraft. Since I’ve been basically just playing Horde for over 15 years, with only a few exceptions here and there, I’m now basically filling out my character roster with their Alliance counterparts. Since more and more stuff is cross-faction nowadays, this doesn’t really matter too much anymore, but it still gives me an excuse to level new characters with the objectively best race, dwarves.
I bought a few smaller games in the Steam sale, first RollScape. It’s a puzzle game where you roll a die to put down tiles, which give you points, and you try to get as much as possible. Modifiers increase this exponentially, so you just get more and more. It was alright for a couple of hours, but also a bit too boring and frustrating at times.
Then God of Weapons, which is basically Brotato, except you get to play Inventory-Tetris between rounds to manage your items. The inventory system is a neat gimmick, but otherwise the game doesn’t really a lot of new things. Runs can also be a bit too long for my tastes, with half of the time spent swapping items in and out, trying to fit some weird shaped item into your inventory.
I’ve only just started Slime 3K: Rise against Despot, another Vampire Survivors-like, but it’s not making a good impression so far. The game looks great, I love the pixelart design of the slime, but right now, the gameplay isn’t really doing it for me. It’s mainly the weapons, they just feel super weak and not really impactful in any way. In this game, leveling up spawns a vending machine, which you can collect and then get to buy items. These items come from a deck, that you can modify between runs, so can remove stuff you don’t like or if you want to focus on specific types items, i.e. just guns or summoning. I’ll give it a bit more time, maybe some later unlocks improve things.
Lastly is Powerwash Simulator. Seems like just a fun, brain-off type game, where I can blast dirt off of stuff, while watching streams on the side. Except that Lichen can bite me. Bullshit, basically invisible, but still count as dirty. Screw you. (Edit: Didn’t know about that button to highlight dirt, which makes it much more manageable).
That’s honestly refreshing. Gaming companies think that people have to play their game constantly, and that’s such a weird take. Who watches the same movie every day without watching something else in between?
I remember halo Infinite thought they were going to be the next game to do that, like destiny. No, it’s okay to put down a game and walk away. I don’t care about how many season passes you have or other garbage to try and get me addicted. I’ll play it sometimes, other times I won’t.
god forbid they have expectations of “successful” instead of “most profitable game in our company’s history”. I don’t think PUBG or WoW set out to be the successes they were, it just happened, I wish companies knew that that success can’t be planned for
WoW did set out to be massively popular with a gameplay style that encouraged daily play.
PUBG lucked into the popularity by getting the scale and pacing correct for a large audience.
Both also seemed to benefit from server issues causing an ‘exclusive’ thing that means people lined up to get in during peak hours. Popularity can breed popularity, especially when the games are fun.
No, what they want is to be able to coax more money out of their sales numbers. Retention is correlated with future purchases, both of paid DLC (if the game has it) and of future studio titles.
And it’a an easy metric to point to when talking to a publisher and negotiating funding.
I don’t understand how anyone buys Early Access games. Yes, I understand that the creators need to make a living before the game launches, but big companies should have the reserves and small companies may just take the money and run.
A couple days ago I looked at pcgamer’s summer steam deals list, and since Manor Lords topped the list I went over to Steam to check it out. Early Access. Nevermind.
I forgot about it entirely until looking at this article. Went to Steam and: Oh. Right. Early Access. Nevermind.
I do agree that it is too early to expect more updates. It only became available in April. I don’t expect it to have improvements worth integrating yet. That said, I’m not spending $30 (regular price $40) on something that may or may not end up being any good – that might always be too buggy to play, or too cringe-y to enjoy, or go so far from the initial demo that it isn’t the same game (I will never forgive you, Spore, and I will never buy you).
It’s a gamble - but one mitigated by looking at review.
I, for one, am very satisfied with my EA purchase of Satisfactory (…pun intended, but heh). Coffee Stain has been absolutely amazing throughout the entire EA Aperiod.
Same for me, and I have had better luck with enjoying early access games than most full release games. Valheim is the stand out example for me, but there arena couple others with hundreds of hours of fun! It also helps that indie early access games tend to be less expensive.
Then there is the case of Multiversus, which was way more fun to play in prerelease than it is now. On top of that they cranked up the intrusive monetization, so getting to the less fun gameplay is a slog.
Then there is Tekken 8, which launched ok and then added a shitty shop and annoying seasons shortly after release. It also seems like the networking has gottenn worse.
But every early access game where I was clear on expectations has been fun and always feels worth the money.
See? That’s the thing. I don’t want to support future in-app purchases that get tacked on after they got me to PAY THEM for the ‘privilege’ of doing their beta testing for them. That seems like a special kind of evil that must not be encouraged.
Tekken 8 didn’t have an early access that I am aware of, and I have given a Not Recommended review on steam because of the shop being added post release. The Tekken situation is not an early access problem, just a greed problem so I might have caused some confusion as an example of games having sketchy behavior even without early access.
Multiversus is free to play with predatory monitization. The beta was free, but you actually got stuff by playing a somewhat reasonable amount of time. During the beta they increased the amount of time and people complained, so it was kind of surprising that they did the opposite of the early access feedback on release.
Yeah, Rimworld was in early access for 5 years and was worth the price the entire time IMO. Project Zomboid has been in early access for over a decade! If you just blanket ignore early access games you’re cutting yourself off from some excellent games.
One of my favourite examples of this is still Rust. Sure, it’s not a perfect game, I don’t always like the updates, but do I feel like I got my money’s worth, from a purely online game I bought in 2013 and can still hop on with thousands of other people? I do.
Like, a big AAA dev/publisher or a relatively unknown newbie? Not gonna trust that it’s going to turn out good or get finished.
A company like Crate? Hell yeah, they make solid shit and haven’t fucked me over once on it. I watched Grim Dawn grow up from 2 acts to getting a third expansion. Farthest Frontier is also shaping up into a fun time, in my opinion.
If they have a history, it can be worth it to take the risk and take some small part in the process.
Early access doesn’t necessarily mean bad. 2 of my favourite games this year have been Core Keeper and Timberborn. Both early access, got more than 100 hours in both and I’m definitely not halfway through either. They’re great as they are and updates are coming to improve them. I do agree though you have to be very wary of what game you choose to support, I have been burned before by a developer that took the money and ran. Fuck you Code{}atch, I’ll never forgive you.
I do that to help some of the indie devs I like. I don’t play them until the final release or don’t contribute any other way. Did that for Factorio, Mashinky, Soviet Republic, Songs of Syx, Kingdoms Reborn, Farthest Frontier, etc.
I don’t think this is a bad article - or discussion - altogether, but this excerpt really brings out the most crucial aspect, or rather how its missing:
Missing from the discussion is a sense of how much cash Slavic Magic and Hooded Horse need right now to sustain on-going Manor Lords development.
The point being, major games owned by large studios are driven by infinite growth because that’s how their business model has shifted heavily into for the past few years. For minor developers, indie, solo or otherwise, the matter is far simpler: Can they afford their livelihood plus keep working on the game with how much they’re making? If yes, good, keep at it. If not, then we have a problem.
Given how that’s not detailed at any point, its impossible to really pick a side. If Styczeń has made enough money that he can afford to work on the game slowly for several months, this discussion is a non-issue. If he is struggling to make ends meet, or if he foresees struggling soon due to revenue slowing down, it might be time to work on rebuilding that publicity.
I believe Steam’s predatory cut is very important to the discussion and not a light matter at all, although that’s a discussion for a different thread.
Those should still a good amount of earnings, even if we aren’t aware of how much it goes to HH and how much to Styczeń, so they do have good reason to take it easy.
Not to go down a rabbit hole that’s off topic, but I’m generally not offended by Steam’s cut. The platform, advertising, centralizing, hosting, and cloud saves, etc etc, seem like a major benefit, especially for smaller developers, that would allow them to get to market faster, and with a much larger audience.
I don’t see the sales numbers in the article but even then we don’t know how much it costs for Styczeń to operate, or how much of the profits go to the publisher. I assume they are doing well, but the point is for how long in the foreseeable future that will continue.
I know one of the Long Dark devs – chill AF – and if they are a representation of their company culture, then I would consider this less of a snipe, and more of a business model observation one would make over beers.
But, yeah, it is yet to be seen if Manor Lords is a flash in the pan, or has a long tail (like Paradox games or No Man’s Sky or others).
The Long Dark came out in 2017 and the story mode still isn’t finished yet, so I dunno if they’re the ones to be pontificating about being slow with the content lol.
I mean it’s a great game, but yeah it’s been a minute.
I bought the alpha version back in 2015. I was happy with my $15 purchase then and they have continually updated the game. Sure, it has taken a while to “complete” the game but I never really even expected a story mode.
I do kind of agree with the sentiment that games so not necessarily need to be constantly worked on. Another game I think of is No Man’s Sky. Yes, it was a shallow and incomplete game on release. But they kept working on it until it was far beyond what would be considered complete. And they are still doing pretty major updates. While I do appreciate it because they have added some great content, I also think they could call it good and possibly put their developers onto a new game. There is also the risk that a major update screws up the game that people thought they bought.
I also bought the Long Dark when it was still new in early access. Haven't played it since, but it was fantastic even then and I felt I got my money's worth.
That was actually my first thought as well lol. Maybe story mode is secondary to some people who just like the survival grind, but it’s the only part I’m interested in, and my attention in The Long Dark has come and gone waiting for it to complete.
I think I single-handedly funded a complete overhaul of the Kantonian Safari Zone just to get Scyther in Pokemon Red.
I lost count of how many times I reset to actually catch Chansey. “You missed the Pokemon! Chansey fled!” over and over again, when I actually got one of them to spawn!
Then it was flying all over, since I had the Good and Super rods, finally, to do all of the fishing. Now it’s leveling up some of my catches while pushing through Saffron so I can grab Lapras, snag Hitmonlee from the dojo, get everyone evolved and caught up, and then finally take down Koga.
Still swimming around in Subnautica. It's been fun trying to figure out my next step. Just mulling over stuff and gathering resources until I'm like "Oh! What did this one log from earlier say? Ok, I gotta check out this place over here." Though I won't lie, I did end up going and finding a map online, because I was getting lost so easily, especially while underwater.
I can feel that I'm nearing the end of the storyline, it's just a matter now of getting there. Without being spoilery, I've put off making one particular piece of equipment, and now it looks like I'm going to need it. So, my current state is farming for resources and crafting. I'm hoping I finish this game in the next two or three days, because while this is fun, I'm itching to play something else.
Dragon Age Origins, first run ever. Had to apply the 4GB patch, and it still crashes occasionally on modern hardware. Off and on.
BG3. Just started Act III, still in the outskirts. The third act is so imposing that I’ve taken a break just to clear headspace, hence DAO above
EU4 (Anbennar fantasy conversion mod) – geez, this game is like crack for me. I’m now well over 4000 hours. I keep circling back. Most recent run was Dwarven Adventurer into Verkal Dromak – the sleeper dwarves with the dream magic system. Long considered a hard start, you’re now aided by an early game rebellion which can sometimes cripple your main enemies, the Hobgoblin country “The Command”. Much fun.
I decided to try Zenless Zone Zero. I’m already a Honkai Star Rail player and I used to play Genshin Impact, although I gave up Genshin because I was irritated with how they handle story and characters. I originally wasn’t going to try ZZZ, but thought it wouldn’t hurt anything. Worst case scenario, I drop it and go back to solely playing HSR.
I’m really enjoying ZZZ’s combat, even if I don’t feel like I’m doing it “right” or optimally yet. The story is nice so far, I love the Persona vibes it gives me, especially Persona 4. Wasn’t expecting that. I got the guaranteed S rank character I wanted (Lycaon!) and I’m skipping the first limited character because… I really don’t like the maid outfit thing. It wasn’t for me on Noelle in Genshin, and it’s not for me here. I love her design otherwise and she’s a shark girl with a shark tail, which is super neat. She has a casual outfit I like a lot. Just. Cannot. Do. The. Maid. Thing.
I might pull on the second half banner. But I haven’t met the character yet so I have no idea if I want her either. It’s a bit frustrating waiting, because my teams are kinda a mess due to lack of characters. But it’s okay. The story comes first and that has my interest so far.
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