It seems to be a corporate mindset now that you need to flex by snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

I think its fucking infuriating but I'm glad they backed down on their decision to need a psn account on PC for Helldivers 2

As I said in this very thread, the Microsoft buyouts proved to be nothing but bad news. And Microsoft is only making more terrible decisions, after dropping four entire studios. To the point where I can't buy and play Hi-Fi Rush now, knowing that money isn't going to anyone but Microsoft. Plus, everyone's already calling out Hellblade 2 doing poorly and Microsoft giving them the axe next. Regardless of my opinion of that walking simulator that natters on in your ear. It was a "double-A" darling for others, and I've seen basically no promotion of it's sequel.

And Sony is continuing the stupid PSN crusade and just removed access for Ghosts of Tsushima in the same countries as Helldivers 2. (Doubt that will be the last of them either.)

Take Two also fired six hundred employees/two studios and cancelled most of it's projects too. (Among all the other bigger studios cancelling games like Square-Enix.)

So I think the only piece of good news that I've seen in the gaming sphere is how well several indies are being received. Animal Well / VideoGameDunkey being the funniest. Because while he hasn't actually made anything funny on Youtube in years, he still pisses off all the right people AND it looks like I might get another good Metriodvania to play. (The thing is even on Playstation Extra.) So I'll take the wins that I can get.

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I think its fucking infuriating, but I'm glad they backed down on their decision to need a PSN account on PC for Helldivers 2

Note that the game was still removed from 177 countries that originally had access. And I doubt every single user that bought the game in those places, were able to get it properly refunded.

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GHOST OF TSUSHIMA IS OUT

For anyone whose bored and needs a game to play. (As someone whose played and very much enjoyed at least one of these games. That being Bloody Hell.)



100% Orange Juice (A 'Mario party-ish' board game.) & Endless Legend (a 4X Strategy) are also free right now on Steam.

And Indigo Park: Chapter 1 (Indie horror) was released on Steam for free.

So I suddenly have more things to play. (Time will tell if I actually like any of them. But Steam games have a better track record of enjoyment, compared to Itch.io games that I've tried.)

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But because I spilled shit all over my keyboard and had it non-functional for weeks. I haven't been on my PC/Steam much. So I played a few games on my PS5 instead.

Animal Well: Unlike Rain World & Outer Wilds, this game's controls were made by someone who actually plays video games. More challenging than I originally thought it was going to be. But it's a genuinely good game that ends well. And it still had plenty of optional content/secrets to find. (With "boss fights" being it's weakest and most frustrating element.) Not quite the masterpiece "Tunic" is, but few things are. And it's probably the strongest of the three games I'm 'reviewing'.

Worldless: This one hurts a bit, because the "mid-game" is downright impressive. It has a dual character movement/combat system that forces you to switch them on the fly & it's turn-based combat system is quite a challenge. Plus, like Animal Well, it's very nice to look at in places. But this games' challenge through obscurity/trial-and-error never really "clicked" with me. (As the necessary parry mechanic/certain movement abilities felt way too inconsistent for how precise you needed to be.) And unfortunately, it's ending is downright terrible. (Whoever thought it was a good idea to end your game on a "supposed to lose" boss fight is beyond me.)

Chants Of Sennaar: Another good puzzle game that I enjoyed for the most part. It's obviously rushed final level aside. Especially how it's good ending/optional content directly changes old parts of the world to make you feel like you're improving it. (But it was clearly made for PC's/mouse movement. Because doing the optional content/it's numerous "stealth" sections on a controller were a tedious endeavor.)

@SleepingSilence Funny, I just came across this the other day. I guess you can look at it once you're done with those. Can confirm Outcore is a fun experience, even if I didn't like the coding minigame and some of the controls were slippery. It's very playable.

That said, I think a lot of free games get a wee bit overpraised because free = virtually no expectations. You can expect most experiences to lack the polish and/or duration of their commercial counterparts. But you know, it's free, so it's just a time investment.

@BrokenPromise Sure. I think the "free-to-play" model can dodge a lot of legitimate criticisms under the guise of "being free". (Especially in regards to certain monetary practices.) But the actual free game is a nostalgic reminder of the endless flash game library that kids everywhere enjoyed. (Opposed to the mobile game market nowadays, where the kids spend thousands of dollars on their parents' credit card.) And I much prefer the former.

Plus, I think the point is to give the developers free and vital feedback on their design, and "exposure" through word of mouth. So when the current triple-A market and it's defenders argue that games need to be more expensive. Pointing to the variety of (free) indies that I'd rather play instead of their overproduced slop, is an ever-growing counterpoint.

Also, I'd actually disagree with the "free means lack of polish" argument. Because I've had less bugs and issues with free games as opposed to shovelware/cheap indies/early access games that expect money upfront. (Though short duration is usually valid & I think "being left wanting more" isn't a bug. But the point of "prototype/game jam" games.)

And I'll certainly give that list a look.

I need to stop buying Steam games, tbh. I keep buying games that I've been wanting for awhile but I don't play them because a) I either play other games, b) I'm spending my free time elsewhere, or c) I'm too busy working overtime. Like I spent almost $200 on a recent sale only to really just mainly play Battlebit Remastered lol.

I'm back to playing BG3.

xdefiant good

Said fuck it and decided to buy MW3 anyway. Gun go brrr.

No but seriously, I haven't played a COD game on PC in probably a decade. My games are almost always positive (so far) but I rarely win matches lol. I hate the unlock system, though. Camos are easier to get, but just like with attachments and stuff, you have to use alternate weapons to unlock things. Like, why the hell do I need to use a SMG to unlock a red dot-esque sight for my AR? It's so dumb, but I guess it gets you to use other things I suppose.

Also, the music gets annoying after awhile. I know it's main menu music or whatever, but it feels so repetitive after listening to it the 500th time.

Said fuck it and decided to buy MW3 anyway. Gun go brrr.

No but seriously, I haven't played a COD game on PC in probably a decade. My games are almost always positive (so far) but I rarely win matches lol. I hate the unlock system, though. Camos are easier to get, but just like with attachments and stuff, you have to use alternate weapons to unlock things. Like, why the hell do I need to use a SMG to unlock a red dot-esque sight for my AR? It's so dumb, but I guess it gets you to use other things I suppose.

Also, the music gets annoying after awhile. I know it's main menu music or whatever, but it feels so repetitive after listening to it the 500th time.

just buy mw 2 2009 bro its better neway

or download xdefiant which is pretty badass too

<Snipped quote by Kuro>

just buy mw 2 2009 bro its better neway

or download xdefiant which is pretty badass too

I was thinking of trying xdefiant but the abilities turn me off from playing from it. Well, that and the fact I have to go install another launcher just to play the game.

‘Blood Spear', ‘Boomeroad’, ‘Gravitas’ & ‘Sheepy: A Short Adventure’ were the best vertical slices of games that I wished were longer. But at least I found a few decent experiences during my housesitting venture. (Would’ve probably liked ‘Grimm’s Hollow’ too, if a bug didn’t reset one of my character’s most important stats.)

But in the absence of other good media, my efforts to find the next game that I enjoy enough to sink time into hasn’t been successful. Though I’m still trying.

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Talisman: A game I’ve now wasted my money on twice. (At least it was cheap both times.) Friends all got this game on PS5 this time around, and no one liked it enough to finish a full match. (It also supposedly corrupted one of my friend’s PS5 and prevented him from redownloading it.) And the AI is such a cheating bastard.

Grounded: I can’t imagine playing this on my own. But it’s probably meant to be enjoyed in a group, and I suppose it’s about as fun as anything is with friends. Though the fact that this game has the option to completely customize/vastly improve the experience, just to punish you by removing achievements, leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Monster Hunter World (Iceborne): I’ve realized that Monster Hunter World is only as fun as the people who tag along. Because loot isn’t shared, your resources that you spend an hour trying to collect can disappear (both after death and just before you kill them), and there’s a limit on what you can really “do as a team”. Also, certain environments and “knockback” attacks can affect your teammates in ways that break combat flow. So combine that with the inability to follow the story/join games during unskippable cutscenes, and it’s not all that enjoyable to play in a bad/uncooperative group. (Also, it might be just me, but I remember the monsters fighting each other a lot more often in my first attempted playthrough. As opposed to now always choosing to go after the player characters instead.) In conclusion: I spent $15 on a shitty grapple hook.

Laika Aged Through Blood: It looks great, and I really wanted to like this. But the PS5 controller lacked the ability to use the map or go into the inventory screen. Which feels like a massive oversight. So I had to keep setting the controller down, to see where the hell I was going. (Not very helpful for building immersion.)

But more importantly, the cripplingly punishing mechanics of dying in one hit and losing half your resources, do NOT mesh well with this movement system. Nor does its “Grace Mode” seem to change how easily you can inexplicably flip over and crush your own head in, while biking across completely flat surfaces. (So I might give this another try with a mouse and keyboard setup, when I’m in the mood. But it’s getting shelved for now.)

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For some ungodly reason, I got Pathologic 2. And I downloaded Dredge, since it was on Extra. So those will likely be the next games that I attempt to play. (Then maybe I’ll go back to other games that I stopped playing, if neither of them manage to capture my interest.)

Otherwise, I’m holding off on buying anything else, in hopes that the Steam Summer Sale will healthily trim down my wishlisted games.

Edit:
>Play Dredge and realize it's a few dull minigames that remind me of when I tried Skull & Bones and was forced to chop trees down.
>Pathologic 2's in media res makes absolutely no fucking sense, if you don't know the original story. (And even then, it's borderline difficult to parse.) And after watching 3-4 NPC's running into walls, my ass got stuck in the terrain between a fence and a rock, while trying to find the door to a house. Effectively making me restart my whole run already. Quality port Sony!

<Snipped quote by Hey Im Jordan>

I was thinking of trying xdefiant but the abilities turn me off from playing from it. Well, that and the fact I have to go install another launcher just to play the game.

the abilities might not be as impactful as you think and i would encourage you to try it anyway

that being said the launcher is a good reason

Imma start spitting some opinions.

Hear me out... Star Wars: Hunters
It is fun, and I like it. It's the first class-based shooter/combat game I've tried and for the few days that I've played it, I have had fun with every moment of it, especially with Sentinel, dear God is he ever fun to play as. Just playing the game is fun, I like the mechanics and you don't need to throw money at it to have fun, I hope it grows a lot.

Now, for a lesser known Pokémon/Fighting game, Pokkén Tournament DX

This game has made me want to both punch a hole in the wall and eat the dry wall. It is so mechanical in the best ways possible for a fighting game, especially if you play a technical based character like Darkrai. His mechanics are hard to learn but so fun once you learn them. There is much more I could say, but this would go on for hours...

I've gotten back into Starfield. That game is chill when just like trying to 100 percent a planet's scan. And now mod support is happening so it's a pretty good time.

Recently got back into Apex Legends and League after about a year away from both. I'm better than I ever was before and idk how.

Started playing Deltarune for the first time today, pretty fun, much entertainments