Greedfall: The Dying World

The misadventures on the continent. I have discovered that there are timed quests by failing a side quest. No spoiler tags as it is fairly inconsequential. On the Olima markets, there was a noble berating her servant. The servant lost the noble's necklace. I quickly found it and tried several dialogue options to return it to the servant. The thing was that one of the companions was disapproving, so I decided to swap the party and return later. I got sidetracked and, when I finally got back, the noble and the servant were nowhere to be found and the quest promptly failed. There was nothing in the journal to indicate that it was a timed quest, however, the noble had mentioned going to a ball.

So, while it is more immersive than the NPCs waiting for me for a few in-game months, the lack of clear time limits is unpleasant.

The stealth system, on the other hand, is funny. There are several notable things. When you stealth-kill a hostile NPC and save/load, sometimes the remaining hostiles spawn at different positions, including the newly freed one. Another one is that you technically can approach from the front (~45 degrees) and, when you stealth-kill the opponent, they turn their back to you. And another one is that even with 1 point in the Stealth skill, the hostiles cannot notice you farther than a few metres away in the ~45-60 view cone in front of them. The companions, conveniently, are completely invisible.

There are some continuity bugs, such as a quest NPC spawning after the related quest was completed or companions referring to the non-chosen options. It does not happen too often, but it is noticeable. When the quest resolutions are tracked correctly, it feels good, though.

Other than that, I've spent most of the time trying to comb the areas for loot. I do not know whether I will ever need all those crafting ingredients or low level equipment, but if it is there, I must collect it (i.e. the game might be balanced in a way that considers the player looting everything in sight and if I do not, I will be at a disadvantage later). It is a fairly meditative experience. I am also certain that the playtime would have been halved (thirded?) if I did not do it. I think there are difficulty options, but I'd like to stick to the default one.

On the other hand, it makes the story progress much slower than it could have been. There is also a new "feature" - you cannot take more than one companion quest simultaneously (the PC auto-refuses) and the companion remains in the active party until it is completed. I probably could just grab 3 people and do their quests in parallel, but I kind of understand the reasoning behind limiting it to 1.

Edited Saturday at 11:00 PM4 days by Hawke64

15 hours ago, Hawke64 said:

Greedfall: The Dying World

The misadventures on the continent. I have discovered that there are timed quests by failing a side quest. No spoiler tags as it is fairly inconsequential. On the Olima markets, there was a noble berating her servant. The servant lost the noble's necklace. I quickly found it and tried several dialogue options to return it to the servant. The thing was that one of the companions was disapproving, so I decided to swap the party and return later. I got sidetracked and, when I finally got back, the noble and the servant were nowhere to be found and the quest promptly failed. There was nothing in the journal to indicate that it was a timed quest, however, the noble had mentioned going to a ball.

So, while it is more immersive than the NPCs waiting for me for a few in-game months, the lack of clear time limits is unpleasant.

The stealth system, on the other hand, is funny. There are several notable things. When you stealth-kill a hostile NPC and save/load, sometimes the remaining hostiles spawn at different positions, including the newly freed one. Another one is that you technically can approach from the front (~45 degrees) and, when you stealth-kill the opponent, they turn their back to you. And another one is that even with 1 point in the Stealth skill, the hostiles cannot notice you farther than a few metres away in the ~45-60 view cone in front of them. The companions, conveniently, are completely invisible.

There are some continuity bugs, such as a quest NPC spawning after the related quest was completed or companions referring to the non-chosen options. It does not happen too often, but it is noticeable. When the quest resolutions are tracked correctly, it feels good, though.

Other than that, I've spent most of the time trying to comb the areas for loot. I do not know whether I will ever need all those crafting ingredients or low level equipment, but if it is there, I must collect it (i.e. the game might be balanced in a way that considers the player looting everything in sight and if I do not, I will be at a disadvantage later). It is a fairly meditative experience. I am also certain that the playtime would have been halved (thirded?) if I did not do it. I think there are difficulty options, but I'd like to stick to the default one.

On the other hand, it makes the story progress much slower than it could have been. There is also a new "feature" - you cannot take more than one companion quest simultaneously (the PC auto-refuses) and the companion remains in the active party until it is completed. I probably could just grab 3 people and do their quests in parallel, but I kind of understand the reasoning behind limiting it to 1.

My concern with this game is bugs, polish, and balance issues, as these are what typically get ironed out in patches delivered during the first several months after a game's release. And we don't have that with this game. 😟

On 5/23/2026 at 5:10 PM, Sven_ said:

Thick Asssss Thieves.

What do you think of it?

1 hour ago, Wormerine said:

What do you think of it?

For a fiver it was a no-brainer (fan of the type).

Still feels a little barebones (played 4 or 5 contracts so far). It's naturally also a more challenge-type game rather than a big narrative focus (still haven't tried CoOp, have you?).

Funnily, I currently enjoy the (optional) simple stealth in Sir Kicksalot more (including the skill tree for a Thief type of character). But then that also sees me hopping from level to level, rather than the same 2 maps. And there's a lot more tools... I mean anything is a weapon, including fishes. Speaking of which, no idea why there's fishes jumping all over the place when I throw a baguette into the waters. And the postman upon hitting him just picked a chair to hit back. But then that's exactly the type of sandboxy madness I luv. 😁 (One of the first things I did in KCD2 was stealing guards and the tavern maid their clothes and armor, they were guarding and serving in their underwear for days hahahahah).

Edited Sunday at 10:33 PM3 days by Sven_

1 hour ago, Sven_ said:

For a fiver it was a no-brainer (fan of the type).

Still feels a little barebones (played 4 or 5 contracts so far). It's naturally also a more challenge-type game rather than a big narrative focus (still haven't tried CoOp, have you?).

I did I think 3 contracts so far. I am more or less the same boat. Enjoyed it so far and looking forward to playing more. I like some solutions (grapling gun seems like a sensible variations on Thieves' arrows or Dishonored blink), though feel it's utility is quite more limited then both examples.

The game is pleasant, scratching Thief-lite itch, but as you said it feels very basic. I am still not clear if it is it, or if they plan to sell more content later. I wonder if harder difficulties will add any spice.

I also find lighting to be somewhat vague - which part of the room is and isn't lighted doesn't seem well communicated visually, especially in the first level. Not so much issue now as enemies are few and far between, but I wonder if it will become a problem if difficulty increases density of guards.

1 hour ago, Wormerine said:

Not so much issue now as enemies are few and far between, but I wonder if it will become a problem if difficulty increases density of guards.

I'm at the point now where you can unlock the "Thief" difficulty (I think this is what it's called). Curious also. I think that even when they add stuff to it (more mission variety would also be nice from what I've seen so far), it's naturally never gonna be a classic Thief / Dishonored replacement. The game wasn't made with that in mind. I'm sometimes thinking of the "Dunwall City Trials" DLC, which was entirelly about challenges (though singleplayer, naturally).

Still playing Sir Kicksalot first now. I was expecting some Dark Messiah combat madness...... but that the stealth is this fun also I hadn't on the radar (mostly based on noise/lines of sight). Playing on medium difficulty, but without saving mid-mission. That was a tense 40 minutes and I enjoyed every minute of it. Game also has a demo btw, but this level wasn't in it, ended with climbing up a lighthouse, coming down and then throwing bombs on pirates that had spawned/landed on the beach below. 😁It's such a chaotic mess at times, it's LMAO kind of fun. Tempted to try a ghost run, or do another playthrough as a mage just making people burn. :D

Edited Monday at 01:02 AM3 days by Sven_

Crimson Desert - ok, they're up to 1.08. Based on patch notes, it's getting pretty close to where there's enough QoL and other tiny changes I wouldn't mind having/seeing - in a new playthru. I still want my initial playthru to stay as is but I'm just so slow with it. Not only because game is big, but because I don't play tons of hours per day etc. I don't plan on doing "everything" in 1st playthru (so a 2nd would still have tons of things I've never done/seen yet) but even so, I'm a snail I guess.

Hoping to push myself to at least finish the MQ in a week or two, then maybe patch 1.10 is where the chapt. 3 save comes in and that's the one I'll play "forever". :D

Also, I did end up buying/installing Space Haven. I haven't launched it yet tho. So I now have a backlog of --- one.
Haven't even turned on CD for a few days, just one of those weeks.

Picked up Warhammer 40k Chaosgate Demon Hunters. Pretty much an xcom reskin so far and I'm all for it.

Edited Tuesday at 11:27 PM1 day by Sarex

On 5/24/2026 at 3:11 PM, kanisatha said:

My concern with this game is bugs, polish, and balance issues, as these are what typically get ironed out in patches delivered during the first several months after a game's release. And we don't have that with this game. 😟

I saw an announcement for a DLC after 29 April, so someone is still working on the game, though I doubt that the bugs will be fixed before the support ends.

While GF2 is not a Larian-style sandbox, there are still quite a lot of opportunities to break things and express your unique playstyle. Granted, I was puzzled when the (main) quest marker pointed at an NPC who was underground, but I was able to figure out where to go (to be fair, the places have very descriptive names on the map) and the game proceeded as expected. In another quest, the party was stealthily gathering evidence against the BBEG. There was an option to run into a group of mercenaries and learn from them (required a successful skill check) where the BBEG's secret base was. At first, I skipped this option, then took it, then reloaded to the first point (where the party did not know where the base was). In the knowing state, the party was able to see the quest marker and the highlighted wall marks on the way to the base. In the not-knowing state, the path was quiet and I was jogging from memory (though, there was only one floor transition marker in that part of the map). So, there were several ways to proceed and it was impressive that the game did not break and did not force a strict sequence of events (it did at some other points*).

Another thing is that not all quests have markers (unsure if intentional). I had an escort quest where the NPC told me to go, firstly, to his friend who lived "near the aqueduct south from" a district I had not found yet, then to the faction HQ. I also quickly discovered that I could not save during this particular quest. So, I decided to skip the friend visit and go straight to the HQ because that I could at least see on the map. Fortunately, I found the district and the aqueduct on the way. Unfortunately, the aqueduct was on the west and not south, so I spent some time following it down until an opening appeared and the cutscene triggered. Going to the faction base afterwards was easy. So, I had to actually read the map and look at the landmarks to find out the destination and it was enjoyable.

What I genuinely like is the story and the companions. The story is that you are an islander sage (so I was a very sneaky and stabby sage, I suppose) and you and your friends get kidnapped and the teacher killed (ironically, the teacher was the only one not participating in combat and just standing still in the tactical mode/covering his head in the over-the-shoulder camera mode). So, you are trying to find your way home (at least, no opportunity so far to try to conquer the continent). The premise also sets up the companions - they are the people who are willing to help you because what happened was unjust (or they broke out with you and did not have a ship, so decided to tag along). They are also the best (not as the most widespread) representatives of the respective factions.

Admittedly, I do not quite understand their classes and the expected combat roles, but they seem to work well with everything - there are 3 skill trees and 1 weapon type per companion, but the attributes and other equipment can be anything, while many have abilities fitting several possible archetypes.

I am generally happy with the combat, despite it being fairly straightforward on the default difficulty - the tank does CC and gets hit (also heals), the rest of the party removes the armour from the enemies and cuts into the HP. There is some synergy (e.g. higher damage on enemies without armour or suffering from a debuff), but I have not seen any reason to dig deeper into it as of now. The AI can do some positioning (e.g. the rogue can auto-flank), but allowing it to choose targets or use abilities is not a good idea.

*I found it quite funny - a quest, 2 different battles where you have 2 different NPC allies. In the first case, the NPC ally can die and the dialogue changes slightly (well, can't talk to a corpse, but can discuss the outcome with the companions). In the other, the NPC ally continues fighting at 1HP, then (as one could guess) tries to cross the party and regains the whole health bar for the mini-boss battle.

Another bug I found amusing is that the PC was trying (successfully) to vault over a very small tree branch (still attached to the tree) in the starting area. The traversal is fairly inconsistent in terms of things you can interact with, but fine in general (challenges in seeing things aside).

---

A significant issue at the present is that it is hot af in the city and I am not brave enough to run the game in this weather. Should be better tomorrow.

Im about 45 hours into Subnautica 1 and its time for  a detailed update 

Its one of the best survival games I have ever played, only the Forest and Sons of the Forest is better 

The things I love about it

• its  quintessential open world. You can go anywhere you want to find resources and progress the game but certain  regions carry massive risk around sea monsters and requiring the right vehicles for deep water exploration 

• its clever how the game advances using lifepods in safer areas. There is no map so the lifepods have become my main way of navigating to certain regions 

• the crafting is brilliant. You really see the benefits of creating better vehicles and getting upgrades

• the constant food and water usage means you always have to aware of those resources. You cant just ignore them and explore. A good mandatory survival mechanic

• I have built a base but its all over the place with random tunnels, a moonpool and areas that are not connected but they all in the same area. Its very chaotic but it works for me

• I have built the Cyclops and now Im upgrading my Prawn suit so I can explore the deepest parts of the ocean  so I can get the resources for the Neptune rocket

• The games has a myriad of different ways you can craft and survive but you have choices. So for example I now use the battery charger instead of making batteries

• Finding blueprints is one of the best ways to force you to explore, a very clever way to motivate exploration which I love anyway 

Really great game and highly recommended if you like this type of survival genre 

16 hours ago, Hawke64 said:

I saw an announcement for a DLC after 29 April, so someone is still working on the game, though I doubt that the bugs will be fixed before the support ends.

Perhaps I'll wait until the DLC is released and then decide.

I decided to try to finish some of the almost finish games sitting on my drive. First one to go:

Outer Wilds - got as far as to figuring out final solution, but with DLCs announced I stopped short of finishing the game. Time passed, bought the DLC, but didn't play it. Time to remedy it.

The DLC (Echoes of the Eye) is a neat addition to the game, though I found it harder to crack then the base game. It also, however, make you think "is Outer Wilds a bad puzzle game, actually?".

Something I noticed in EotE is that a lot of it is less about puzzle solving and more about wondering around, until you find pretty explicit information on what to do next. It's a bit as if game had a walkthrough in itself. I think I notices less of it the base game, as open universe feels more organic to begin with, both in terms of obstacles put in front of you, as well as how the hints are presented.

EotE feels overall more contrived, so most solutions could at best be accidentally stumbled upon (hidden doors and invisible bridges, that sort of thing), and hints feel more contrived this time around.

Still, some puzzles that require logical thinking are to be found, an atmosphere of Outer Wilds is special.

Good game.