Hawke64

I've realised why I was not getting to the threads from the Obsidian Community page directly - the links are bound only to the exact text and not the whole space where I would expect the link to be (e.g. the last poster or the date of the last post). Please add clearly visible buttons/borders around the active links. Also corners, only the UI designers are afraid of corners. 🔲

Participated in the Together Alliance (anti-far-right) march in London yesterday. The numbers were higher than the fash march last year (500K vs 100K). I did not stay for the speeches, as the bloc I was in (LGBTQ) was at the tail and moved slowly.

Gedonia (Steam shows 70 uploaded screenshots) A level 6 powerful wizard. I'd think that verbal abuse would decrease the defence, but whatever works. Threatening a minor. Better than looting from the corpse, I guess. How? And why? FPS dropped to 15. Is the mysterious assassin an assassin? Defeated 1 lurker at lvl21. Then there were 6 more deeper in the cave. The dagger was the same as the one I looted from a random chest in the next area. But good stats. A drakeling boss. Not hostile, but not recruitable either. Kings' Tomb it is not. Debating by tapping E. Was their demigod/Chosen One nailed to a cross too? Very hardcore barbarians - sunburn-resistant and brought wood with them. The main story I joined the not-Ewoks faction after completing several quests for them and still needed books to learn about them. The quest was the opposite of epic.

They are at 68% now, there are 18 days to go, and the game is going to be released either way, according to the FAQ on the page.

Finished Gedonia. I guess it is the "Crimson Desert we have at home". The writing, from the main story to dialogues to world building to environmental storytelling, is atrocious, while the bugs can softlock the game. The FPS in the cutscenes drops to 15 and the PC is auto-dialoguing in the main story with the player having no impact. 0 Alchemy skills? Does not matter, the PC still brews a potion. 1 Agility? The PC swiftly climbs a rope. Otherwise, it is a fairly charming action-RPG which reminds of the MMOs from the 00's, with the late-game bosses boasting tens of thousands of HP. It is also an impressive achievement for a solo developer. There are a lot of features, however shallow they are: you can recruit companions who have no quests and cease having a personality after joining. there are quests with different endings but no quest chains outside of the factions (which are linear and insultingly poorly made) and no further impact from the ones you complete. you can craft but the items are junk. you can build houses at a few very specific spots. I have not found out how to remove the things built, so one of them has a wall in the middle (the input is not disabled when you are in menus and selecting an object and placing it are the same button). you can explore the world, until you find a level-gated quest or dungeon, even if with your equipment you should be able to complete it. The visual style is the low-poly cartoon one, the sound design is fine, the VA makes me wish for the game to be VA-free. There are numerous bugs, from the input still working when the saving menu is open (so if the PC is in front of an interactive object, the interaction will occur) to the PC teleporting to random inaccessible locations if you try to skip the cutscenes. The game also sometimes ignores the settings which on one occasion resulted in having to sprint through an instance-type area at 15 FPS (I blame the grass). The positive aspects include: the controls are rebindable and generally comfortable. the saving is adequate (quick, auto-, and "hard" manual saves). the character creation and development systems allow to have diverse and unique characters. The equipment provides a good synergy with the skills and stats as well. exploration is fun when it works (some dungeons offer unique mechanics).

Clash: Artefacts of Chaos I had thought that they are individual characters rather than species. The hardcore water snakes swim though the ground. The lore dump (2 screenshots) It is a bug that was supposed to be fixed 2 years ago. The final boss Oceanwork

The cat looks adorable. Also, I've just noticed that the screenshots are uploaded to a private server. Thought for a second that it was the game's. Finished Clash: Artefacts of Chaos. The "true ending" is disappointing. Otherwise, the game is as generic as it gets, excluding the visual style, which looks like something produced by a genAI model. While there are lore reasons, unless you consider it a completely symbolic abstraction, the practical aspects don't really work. The main gameplay loop is the usual action-adventure corridor with light "platforming" of climbing the clearly marked stone slabs (but not waist-high fences) and very explicit arena battles, with random loot scattered in the corners. The Night mode, which changes the time of day, offers mostly padding, unless one really likes the combat - everything met is hostile, but you are not locked into the encounters and can just run to the mini-boss, which I did. The only somewhat original quality of the combat is that the main means of attack is unarmed combat stances, while the weapons provide limited support (they break). The story of a stoic warrior who adopts the Chosen One child and realigns with his emotions (that are not apathy or rage) is not exactly original either. In terms of narrative themes, the "we create our own imaginary cages" message with the artefacts working only because all participants agree that they work (apparently, including the bees which are summoned by some of them) was spelt out by the lore-dump NPC and hard to disagree with. Social constructs exist only as long as the complacent majority go along with it. The "no laws without justice" sentiment is welcome as well. A relatively small detail I liked was that the enemies were able to damage each other, instead of clipping through. The OST was fairly unpleasant in-game, but fine to listen to separately (no idea what the language is). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyP-AOAjVYM&list=PLfuHaTW9nnaBWUou9bklAyOviDKz19yJ0&index=1 So, overall, the execution was lacking, despite the ideas. I have finished Oceanwork. The story is about a person sentenced to underwater mining for an unspecified crime. The pace of the exploration and upgrades is good and the environment is interesting to explore, despite the very few points of interest. The upgrades are visible on the character model and the UI is quite helpful. The game is free, so it lacks saving or rebindable controls, but it is also short and uses only WASD, E, and LMB (might be uncomfortable for the left-handed players). It also lacks subtitles for the intro and any visual aid for the approaching sharks which you can only hear before they attack. https://warrrkus.itch.io/oceanwork

Brush Burial If the key is heavy enough, it can work for people too. Saints Row It actually worked. It's the Steamboat. Dungeons of Hinterberg, Unity Clash: Artefacts of Chaos, Unreal Engine (probably 4, as it at least runs) The plant did not bite. Making the environment interactive takes effort.

Tried Brush Burial. It is a stealth-focused immersive sim in a fantasy setting. Realised that I need to see the PC's model to navigate effectively (less of an issue when everything is slower and/or the PC feels "heavier"). Also, a map. So, I've got the 2 plants I needed to unlock the next level, but I do not know how to return to the portal I need to stick them in. The controls are not rebindable, the game saves when you kick a checkpoint, and, when you reload, everything respawns. The health is restored only on reloading, which is odd. The game does look quite good - the visual style reminds of the PS1 games and it is coherent. The UI does not - the health bar is the MC's face, while the inventory panel either takes too much space or you have to guess what items you have (no 3D model for the selected item; the key in hand is shown as an icon, but 2 of them have the same colour), the grab icon is black and mixes with dark environments. The sound design is present (i.e. there is combat music and things make sounds) and there is no VA. Also tried to resume my Serpent in the Staglands playthrough. It did not go well, as I did not remember where and why I stopped or how to play. I liked the story premise (a god stripped of their power trying to recover it) and the visual style, but the lack of a quest log (that is not a map in the inventory with the "Go there and talk to Bob" note; "Bob" was several rooms deep and unhelpful). The very close camera distance, the lack of item highlights, and the respawning enemies did not help either. Dungeons of Hinterberg looks and feels much less junky after playing Clash - the target lock actually works and you can both chase the target or hit in another direction effectively, the visuals are clear and crisp, and the game has a functional saving system. I also dropped the difficulty from Hard to Normal. It did not do much difference, but the opponents became less spongy. Clash: Artefacts of Chaos. Got the second Great Artfact out of 4-5 (not sure), then a corridor run started. Fortunately, the game helpfully highlighted the corridor I was to run and the levels are much shorter when cleared of enemies. Then the boss battle with an unavoidable mini-game started and the auto-battle option was unavailable for story reasons. The boss was both tanky and quite hard-hitting. I am fairly certain that this is a character from the previous game in the series, but I do not remember much from it. It also might be an effective roadblock as the game does not have difficulty settings.

Starweave The Troubadour is a healer and the Blackguard is a ranger and I am somewhat confused, but the colours help. There is a monster dog behind the column and I could not turn the camera. Saints Row Found the Main Menu decoration. Wavetale Clash - Artefacts of Chaos The bane of all adventurers - the Thigh-High Fence.

Started and finished Starweave. It is 2 hour-long tactical game. It is linear, lacks many QoL features, but also affordable and looks fine. Spent 2 hours sorting and uploading screenshots from the past 2-3 weeks. I suppose, it gives time to reflect on the games played?

Clash - Artefacts of Chaos You can put equipment on your ward. The humaniod boar I've mentioned in the other post. No in-combat screenshots, though. The second one is the finisher move.

Finished Wavetale. A lovely and concise adventure, though easy and the full price does not quite match the quality. Started Clash - Artefacts of Chaos. At some point, I spent 10 minutes staring at the left buttcheek of a humanoid boar because it was the only "safe" spot and the opponent was KO'ing me in 2 hits. Otherwise, the camera is the greatest foe, especially in group battles, and the dice mini-game feels useless. The invisible walls and the MC inability to vault over thigh-high fences is annoying. The unique aspects of the game are the setting (feels like post-apocalypsis) and the focus on the unarmed combat. The bug with the stances (the game auto-selects the second stance randomly while I explicitly kept it empty because there is only one I am comfortable with) is unpleasant. Still, I am going to try to finish it, though cannot recommend. Got the DLC for Saints Row on the latest Steam sale. The LARP one is fairly funny and fun. The heist one is 3 missions. I've also been trying to finish the optional activities on the map with relative success. The issue with pacing is less noticeable after completing the main story, though there is more fairly similar side quests than in the previous parts (as far as I remember). I still enjoyed the timed races ("Pony Express"), but would have preferred there being 50% less of it.

Eurogamer.net"We are not powerless, every action matters" - Indie stud..."We have power together." It takes immense courage to refuse funding, especially now. Their Kickstarter campaign is ongoing with 9 days left. It annoys me quite a lot that developers choose to keep the high-res textures in the base download. Like, I cannot and will not use them, why would I want deadweight on my drive? It used to be more popular moving them into optional downloads a few (10?) years ago.

Looks like a pre-made MC and silly system requirements. I'd say "at least it's not UE5", but it is not a high bar to clear. The combat might be fine, but the visual noise is incredibly annoying. Thus, I might consider getting it for $5 in 5 years. Edit. It does look like TW3 and I strongly disliked that game. While TES VI is development, Ardenfall is closing onto the release date (the last I've heard, "early 2026"). Ardenfall on SteamArdenfall is an immersive RPG set in a world of intricate politics and ancient cultures. Explore flowing plains, rain drenched wetlands, and forgotten dungeons full of danger. Meet countless interesti https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/grapeocean/avaria-iron-rule The Black Geyser developers are preparing to launch a crowdfinding campaign for their new game. The description sounds appealing, even if their previous title was somewhat uneven. The survey: https://forms.gle/ibSV87UBjA9aYoXn8