Hawke64

The Veilguard is available on Steam with only one layer of DRM this time and EA App is a rather unpleasant piece of software, so, unless there is some gotcha, Steam might be the better option.

It also makes the environment harder to read, so we get the yellow paint on the breakable barrels. Since it was bothering me a lot during my Steelrising playthrough, I would like to share - some platforms could be jumped on/ledge-grabbed and also there were special hook points. The former were usually marked by white chalk or cloth and the latter by amber lights (and an interaction prompt). The thing is that the white cloth often was hanging on random non-grabbale fences and platforms and all street lights were amber (not in the "look, the path/loot is here" way). Same with the slightly-broken bushes and random indoor doors* - some were walls, some were paths, and the only way to find out which is which is by trying to pass through/open them. *the outdoor gates had clear indicators that they were openable - a small wooden lock panel in the middle. --- EA App. This piece of DRM refused to launch Dragon Age: Inquisition after a week, so I uninstalled the app, forgetting that it also removes the save files. On a positive note, I have managed to un**** Origin (by dropping a totally-not-suspicious DLL into its folder), which is still a very good reason to pirate every last EA release, but it at least runs offline. Ironically, the game looks much better than Steelrising, because the style, unlike the tech, remains.

Finished Steelrising. 20FPS in some areas definitely was not exactly comfortable. The hitboxes are very tight (the foes miss a lot) and the difficulty overall is on the easier side. The writing is rather odd - between the occasional random French words (why???) and all characters having more random memory gaps (a major plot point was explained, everyone was calm, then in the next scene it was explained again, everyone was shocked). The level design is Spiders and I would not be able to finish the side quests without the compass (a regular in-game item, not an accessibility setting). The rebindable controls and the somewhat customisable character were most welcome.

Steelrising The game can look beautiful. The seat is unusable and I do not believe that it existed. The game at least tries to do social commentary (looking up the historical figures, though, does not increase the enjoyment). This door required me to progress the main quest. I was not able to break or anyhow unlock it myself. The NPCs are sitting in one spot and picking all the side quests together, then reporting back together led to this picture. The thing I really like is that the enemies' attacks hurt them as well. All NPC share the same pool of facial animations and sometimes they look rather odd. It was not sarcastic. The end-game map. The last area. Since none are exactly original, no spoiler tags for it. What did that meatbag do with the face? The final boss.

Tails of Iron I cannot tell whether the story is meant to be taken at the face value (a young monarch saving his land from very evil invaders) or not. The first death. The bard was barding. End-/post-game.

Finished Tails of Iron. It is an action-adventure with Metroidvania elements. The main recommendations to make the experience less unpleasant are to start on the lower difficulty and to disable the narration - while the protagonist is as genocidal as an average action game MC, the narration brings attention to it and not the Spec Ops: The Line type. The combat is in general slow and most of it is unavoidable, with the foes being invincible while they are walking towards the middle of the screen (about 20% from the border) during these combat encounters. There is not much exploration - 3 large maps + the final area + 1 post-game side quest. The regular side quests available during the main story are in fact mandatory - they reward with gold and the items or upgrades necessary to progress require the exact amount that the side quests provide (the rewards in the post-game can be spent on the optional visual upgrades for the base). The amount of backtracking is rather frustrating - only one side quest from a board (1-2 per map) can be active simultaneously, so circling between the deepest level of a dungeon and back to the board several times is the opposite of fun. The story is linear, with the map opening up only in the post-game, the character development system consists only of health upgrades (3 specific food ingredients provide 1 upgrade, 4 upgrades in total). There are several types of weapons (melee, 1- and 2-handed, ranged, and shields) and armour (head/body light, medium, heavy). The separation by weight is not exactly noticeable - the late-game light armour provides as much protection as the heavy one. On the positive side, the art is gorgeous, similar to old illustrated books. The bosses are reasonably varied and their movesets and appearance change during battle as they take damage. The NPC companions cannot die (cannot be targeted either) and provide some additional damage. Some of them also provide soundtrack.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/frostyforest/dandd-adventure-the-smuggler-the-baker-the-grim-undertaker/description Backed this. So, now I (probably) will have a short D&D compaign.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2458310/New_Arc_Line/ The demo is available for download until whenever the developers take it down (until October 21?), but it runs without Steam. It crashed on me trice, then I found it too challenging to read the in-game text (the font is too small), so I can't exactly say that I've played it much. --- https://www.gog.com/en/game/atlas_fallen_reign_of_sand Atlas Fallen is available on GOG with 50% discount (55% if you have an account there). It is from The Surge developers and the system requirements look reasonable, so I am quite interested in the game, but probably closer to the winter holidays.

1000xResist The dialogue "options" can be funny. The guilt-trip does not really work with linear experiences - no choice, no responsibility. Some scenes looked really good. In case it was unclear what the game was about. There is a plot twist in the middle, so these screenshots are somewhat spoilers. Ending, so obviously spoilers.

Finished 1000xResist. Review (I am unsure whether I should put these text-walls under spoiler tags or not, but there have been higher walls, so probably fine): 1000xResist (“One Thousand Times Resist”) is a mix of a walking simulator and a kinetic visual novel. There are one puzzle (unless one counts the “interact with everything” objective as a puzzle), one timed action sequence, and one choice that matters, with the previous 10 hours being the context to make it. The story takes place in a post-apocalyptic sci-fi setting, where humanity died out from an extraterrestrial invasion and a plague, with only one human and her clones remaining. The human, Iris, the All-Mother, is worshipped by her clones as a goddess. The protagonist, the Watcher, is a clone whose duty is to observe the All-Mother’s memories. The story is focused on the topics of revolution (the Hong Kong Umbrella Revolution, in particular) and generational trauma. The game is as artistic as it can get. The visual and the sound design are reasonably simple and expressive. All dialogues are voiced and there are very few facial animations. In terms of gameplay, the only possible challenge is to navigate the labyrinthine locations to interact with the next objective, but the exploration never feels rewarding. Only the main hub has a map, which becomes unavailable at some point. Occasionally, the story presentation becomes less straightforward and more abstract and invocative, but just walking forward solves it. The choices in the dialogues throughout the game affect nothing and it was frustrating to see the protagonist do or say unwise things automatically. For the technical part, the controls are not rebindable, though they are not uncomfortable either. The only visual settings are the resolution, the shadows’ resolution, framerate limit, and V-Sync, so I was stuck with the post-effects (blur, chromatic aberration, etc.) and the game was trying to heat up my GPU a few times (nothing on the screen at that time could explain ~80C). The textures are noticeably low-resolution and it is fine, great even, but the lack of optimisation is unpleasant. There are 10 save slots, with one of them being the auto-save, and it is possible to replay the unlocked chapters. Surprisingly, the save files for the GOG version were not in a hidden folder, but in the /User/Saved Games/, which is admirable, considering how rarely it happens now. Overall, I think that games like 1000xResist should be celebrated, but the technical and gameplay flaws make it significantly less appealing, thus, I would recommend it with at least 50% discount. There is also a descriptive mention of animal cruelty that was unnecessary to get the point at the start of the story.

The other two: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/yet-another-studio-formed-of-disco-elysium-alumni-has-announced-a-cerebral-sci-fi-rpg-just-to-confuse-you https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/former-disco-elysium-devs-are-working-on-a-spiritual-successor-at-new-studio-longdue-though-robert-kurvitz-and-aleksander-rostov-arent-involved Sounds interesting, though I strongly dislike the sound design in the trailer.

I have played it (started, defeated the ork boss, but did not finish, then the MTX were introduced, so it will remain unfinished) and I agree about it being unfun. --- Tails of Iron. A 2D action game in a fantasy setting, with anthropomorphic mice fighting against anthropomorphic frogs. The game looks very pretty (the visual style reminds of old picture books), though the mandatory combat encounters (the game locks you on a screen until all foes are dead) are somewhat boring and the movement controls are uncomfortable (but rebindable). After reaching the second boss, I restarted on the lower difficulty to have shorter combat encounters. --- 1000xResist. A walking simulator in a sci-fi/post-apocalyptic setting. As art as it gets, but having the MC automatically doing dumb things or the range of dialogue optoins being "Yes" and "Yes" annoys me greatly. The gameplay consists of walking to an objective in areas of variable ease of navigation (from unobstructed corridors to labyrinthine buildings, 1 area had a map), some sort of light platforming, and 1 puzzle (matching several sentences). The story is a commentary on the Umbrella Revolution (Hong Kong) and generational trauma. I have not yet finished the game, but the achievements suggest that the only choice comes at the end, while the previous 10 hours are the build-up to it.

Thank you for sharing. The videos on workers' rights and water there are interesting (and concerning) as well (though, some of the titles are slightly clickbait-y). Regarding highly processed food, most vegan food, such as grains and vegetables, is not processed, same for the older vegan recipes (e.g. Indian cuisine), the rest are at the same level as animal-based products (e.g. cakes or sauces). Also, the plant-based food is cheaper and easier to store (source: 10 years of personal experience without a fridge (got one now, though) - grains and spices last for months without refrigeration, reduced-price vegetables can usually last for a few days to a week, and potatoes specifically several weeks). Then there is the ethical part (at this point, humans do not have to kill animals for our survival), so here is a video of a happy rescued cow playing with a ball: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJaR9CMnJpU . --- On an unrelated note, here is an article on top-level domains: https://every.to/p/the-disappearance-of-an-internet-domain. Itch.io should be fine: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/could-a-surprise-uk-territory-handover-spell-the-end-for-itch-io-

To add to the ecology-related articles: https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2024/sep/24/where-does-the-uks-fast-fashion-end-up-i-found-out-on-a-beach-clean-in-ghana The reinforcement of the gender stereotypes aside, it is interesting, though unsettling. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/oct/08/earths-vital-signs-show-humanitys-future-in-balance-say-climate-experts Not sure whether the acceleration to the hard-to-recover point is overestimated, but even now, the climate change is noticeable. I was trying to find an article about the effects of animal farming (aka those torture-murder factories) on the environment (very negative, including air; the prices of the properties around also go down by up to 75%), but the search engines did not favour me today. https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/23/long-shadow-life-under-the-veiled-grasp-of-factory-farming-in-europe This one. TLDR: go vegan, use less bandwidth, buy less physical items, recycle what you can, and do not reproduce, so maybe we will not die from the global warming.

The "Radiant" quests are RNG'ed, but yes - Bethesda puts effort into the world-building, setting, and location design (I still dislike those dungeons from Oblivion, though). Ubisoft does not seem to do so.

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/bloodlines-2-is-more-spiritual-successor-than-sequel-to-a-a-competently-good-game-by-2004-standards-say-paradox I must admit that my optimism was misplaced, and this person has not played VTMB. I played it recently and most of the ideas and implementations work just fine (could be better with more immersive sim elements, not less). Then again, abusing the IP worked well for Larian, but they at least somewhat improved the character creation and added more immersive sim elements (the rest was not exactly good). Edit. The developers may release something that can stand on its own, but it is unlikely to be a sequel to VTMB.

https://www.theguardian.com/games/2024/sep/23/heaven-17-v-rockstar-are-games-being-fair-to-music-artists On music licensing in games. I have not been listening to non-gaming/non-LGBTQ+ related music, so cannot comment whether including recognisable tracks boosts sales or not.

Lunacid So close and so far. Found a mimic. I was trying to shake off the giant skeleton. The thing clipped through the walls. A very suspicious wall. The rats won. Dustborn (demo) The combat is not good and the controls are not fully rebindable (presets for keyboard layouts available). The rest is fine.

Dead Space 2. --- Finished Lunacid. The experience was enjoyable, with the combat being generally somewhat better than in The Outer Worlds. I still skipped the combat-only gauntlet due to one of the foes being non-hostile and very agile rats. I guess, I would have liked the exploration more if there were built-in quick saves and at least some pointers to the next checkpoint. --- Regarding The Outer Worlds, while I quite like the game, the combat encounter design is not its strong part. I guess, if the locations were smaller, with more thoughtfully placed opponents and items, it would have been better. So, like Dark Souls, but sci-fi and with more story.

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/a-few-hours-with-new-arc-line-reminded-me-that-setting-doesnt-mean-much-in-an-rpg-if-the-characters-arent-interesting Not a favourable preview, but I am curious about the setting and ambivalent about the turn-based combat. --- https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/in-pagan-party-based-rpg-banquet-for-fools-you-can-doodle-your-own-spells-in-blood The game sounds interesting, though the system requirements are rather puzzling (50GB for v.1.0) and I have not finished the developers' previous game, Serpent in the Staglands (the saves are told to be possible to import). https://steamcommunity.com/app/3172700/discussions/0/4851030238680772668/#c4851030238681356426

The comparison should be with the direct competitors. Other team-based PvP FPS, such as Overwatch 2, Apex Legends, and Valorant, are free-to-play. Or even the older ones, such as Counter-Strike 2 and Team Fortres 2 (I might be wrong here - it has been years since I played PvP). Arguably, Helldivers 2 is somewhat similar and costs $40, but it is PvE/co-op only, as the developer said, "to reduce toxic elements from the community. We want an environment that's supportive, fun and where we all are fighting on the same side!" (the original Xitter link does not seem to work, so https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/helldivers-2-will-never-get-pvp-because-arrowhead-dont-want-a-toxic-community). Additionally, at the moment, by the time a game is content-complete and reasonably bug-free, it is also safely in the £10-15 price range or lower, unless one wants to support the developers or to be a paying tester. Granted, the large publishers are quite good at exploiting the FOMO, while the audience might be vulnerable to it.

I generally agree, but the "Chosen One" trope was subverted - the PC is one of the many "Chosen Undead", but is determined enough to reach the end and become firewood (or have a party with giant snakes). It might be reasonable to avoid large (>10MB) files, which browsers will try to download, in text-based discussions. My phone, fortunately, displayed it as a link and not an animated image, but still. Regarding the achievement pop-ups. GOG and Itch.io allow to run games without the DRM apps (both platforms are DRM-free), so if the games are available, purchasing there would allow to skip the reinstallation step. --- Lunacid. Reached the Prison. The area was easier to navigate due to the large space in the middle (except the lower floors/basement, which consisted of corridors). I also found the most unpleasant foe so far - the skeleton dogs (Lupine Skeletons). They have a chance to inflict the Slow condition, which, given my resistances, is 50%, so I could not dodge the subsequent attacks. On the lower levels, there were giant skeletons, which still managed to follow me into narrow passages, clipping through walls. The only other time I died in the area was upon picking the wrong elevator, which was a trap. I probably still could teleport back to the "bonfire" before dying, but reloading was preferable. Judging by the teleportation menu being filled, I am close to the end of the game (2-3 areas of unknown size).

It does look reasonably good in this resolution, though the muted sound is more noticeable. --- Lunacid. Found the most OP spell (Ice Tear) for my non-magic build and defeated 2 bosses in the (Vampire) Castle (one technically was a mini-boss). The game also highlights why I had less issues with Dark Souls not having maps - open areas with visible landmarks are much easier to navigate than similarly-looking corridors. I have also found a mimic. After losing ~200 coins to it, I decided to reload and avoid it. Dustborn (demo). The demo used several disconnected scenes to show different gameplay systems. The game is techinically similar to Dreamfall or The Walking Dead, but with rhythm mini-games and combat. The graphics and visual style are beautiful, and I liked the music, but the combat animations or physics are lacking (the regular attacks had little impact; the abilities were fine, though). I guess, if the MC had a sharp weapon, I would like it more - while Batman-style non-lethal combat is narratively fitting, it is less satisfying in the context (a party of D&D bard-like mutants are crossing a post-apocalyptic version of the US to deliver a mysterious package, so leaving the foes alive and being able to report does not seem like a reasonable course of action).

Judging by Alan Wake II, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, and Larian's D&D game being critically and commercially successful, I would say that racists, homophobes, and transphobes claming that Concord's failure is anyhow related to "wokeness" are purposefully lying. The market oversaturation, combined with the price and the lack of marketing are more likely reasons.

Steam keys (from HumbleBundle): Dark Deity Blood And Zombies