5 minutes ago, kanisatha said:

Sorry!

But you should've posted earlier. I regularly check this forum but only once a day.

Yeah, there'll surely be a sale on it again very soon.

Can't believe I missed listing Palace of Ice. Duh. Yeah, you definitely want that one too. All the content DLCs.

I am a little disappointed because I was waiting for your response but its not your fault

I saw Solasta on special last week and I should have asked the DLC questions back then as you said

The biggest problem with Steam or GOG specials is who has the time to constantly see what's on special especially with how quick things change? There are several YT channels that do all this work for you and I have a preferred one called Cold Beer. He gives a quick summary of each game and he uses timestamps so you can just browse the list. I like his humor as well and he releases a video every second day more or less so I watch him 2-3 times a week so I can see what is current

Here is an example of one of his Steam Autumn sales specials. You and others should subscribe to it, it really makes being aware of the relevant specials easier 👍

I have my wishlists here:

https://gg.deals/

That way I just check that.

Back to Solasta. I enjoyed the main campaign, even though it isn't something special. It scratches that RPG itch though far more than a lot of the RPGs that try to be special. I found the Palace of Ice DLC very satisfying.

And I found the valley campaign surprisingly fun as well. It is a nice bit of content to come back to later, after finishing the main game, when you have played something else for a palette cleanser and think "Solasta was fun, why don't I try that extra campaign?"

7 minutes ago, BruceVC said:

The biggest problem with Steam or GOG specials is who has the time to constantly see what's on special especially with how quick things change?

I'll alert you if I see it on sale. Since I have Solasta II in my wishlist, and am subscribed to the developer newsletter for both games, I should get the alerts when they are released.

2 hours ago, LadyCrimson said:

Grew kinda bored with 7 Days again. Looked at my Wishlist. Looked at "new survival/sandbox+ other indie games" videos and store pages. Watched some TV for a while. Then went back to 7 Days 3.0, again.

One of those periods where I fairly seriously feel Ike uninstalling everything left on my PC (well, except maybe 7 Days as my singular sandbox) and "quitting" gaming. Nothing feels icompelling/interesting anymore to my puny brain. I'd rather sip tea and watch the trees in my backyard. Maybe in another 3-5 years.

Have you looked into Reka? https://store.steampowered.com/app/1737870/REKA/

41 minutes ago, melkathi said:

I have my wishlists here:

https://gg.deals/

That way I just check that.

Back to Solasta. I enjoyed the main campaign, even though it isn't something special. It scratches that RPG itch though far more than a lot of the RPGs that try to be special. I found the Palace of Ice DLC very satisfying.

And I found the valley campaign surprisingly fun as well. It is a nice bit of content to come back to later, after finishing the main game, when you have played something else for a palette cleanser and think "Solasta was fun, why don't I try that extra campaign?"

Thanks, I have never used that site before

I am going to look into it because it gives you discounts across multiple sites

You can set up alerts with the desired discount or just historical low etc and select for which stores. So if you own a game on GOG, you get alerts for the DLC only for GOG and not a dozen storefronts selling Steam keys.

Finished Nighthawks. It has some amusing moments, but a bit too linear with act endings and inflexible with the options.  

Act 4, ending, spoilers

So, there was a trial, with all previously met characters appearing and saying a few words. I watched the judge's bar filling completely, then a plot twist happened and the trial was lost. It was unexpectedly funny, especially considering that the scene was called the Trial of [PC's name], so the Trial of Big **** for me. 

To elaborate on the choice of name, I was quite unhappy with the lack of some basic functions, such as windowed mode, while the developers so "wisely" invested in implementing full VA (which I disabled on hearing the second NPC I met), so it was one of 3 occasions where I saw the name. 

Ending(s), spoilers

So, disappointingly, the jolly masked lady's plan was to release a bunch of hungry vampires on the city, while, in the particular setting, the vampires reproduce by biting without any additional actions and can feed only on humans. Thus, math did not exactly support that plan. But at least the final mission included briefly hanging out with 2 NPCs I liked. 

The other ending was just restoring one's good name and becoming the head of the local vampire population. Which is duller, but less puzzling. 

---

Tried Ruin: Beast City, demo. Overall, looks lovely, runs well, the hitboxes are a bit odd, the full keyboard and mouse rebinding will be in the full version. It is a boss rush game about an assassin hunting supernatural beings.

I completed AC Unity and its DLC after about 50 hours. It was fun and delivered in the expected and limited way that all Ubisoft games do

Firstly the rendition of France during the revolution was both authentic and stunning. Ubisoft always creates its time periods accurately. You get to meet famous and infamous people like Napoleon and Robespierre and you visit many historical sites like the Bastille . The game also gives you historical information on all these things so if you have interest in history its like being in a time machine

The other mechanics were fun as usual . The standard 8-10 assassinations can always be completed in different ways so you can be strategic. I had one very frustrating target, Marie who was at a party. And I died about 14 times before I could finally kill her and then escape

You have some interesting skills and weapons so you can customize your assassin and combat approach like all AC games. I only played SP so much of the MP mechanics was wasted on me and that includes certain missions

Overall I had fun but I was happy to complete the main mission with the time I spent. 40 hours completing side activities and main missions was enough. It not like Odyssey or Valhalla which were much more engaging AC games with more worthwhile activities


Its gets a solid 62\100 on the globally respected " BruceVC game rating system "

To follow up on the previous post, Nighthawks has a better saving system than most/any WoD VNs, a better story and the player's agency than Vampyr, and better performance than Bloodlines 2. Admittedly, all those titles were severely lacking in the particular aspects, but all together it comes to a not too horrible experience.

On 10/9/2026 at 7:06 PM, melkathi said:

You can set up alerts with the desired discount or just historical low etc and select for which stores. So if you own a game on GOG, you get alerts for the DLC only for GOG and not a dozen storefronts selling Steam keys.

One of the issues I picked up on from your site is I go to the website that has the best price but Im restricted because of my region

You probably dont experience this because you live in the EU? I can use a vpn or use IP masking but I don't like to do that for something like buying a game

But I will continue to use your link because it has huge potential on savings on the sites I can access from SA

Anyway @BruceVC seems like your alerts have failed, since Solasta “full edition” is on sale on GOG for some time, and it will for 7 more days 😁

GOG.com

Solasta: Crown of the Magister - Lightbringers Edition 50...

Grab your torches and jump into the World of Solasta with the Lightbringers Edition! Get

40 minutes ago, Mamoulian War said:

Anyway @BruceVC seems like your alerts have failed, since Solasta “full edition” is on sale on GOG for some time, and it will for 7 more days 😁

GOG.com

Solasta: Crown of the Magister - Lightbringers Edition 50...

Grab your torches and jump into the World of Solasta with the Lightbringers Edition! Get

Thanks, its 50% off which is not as much as Steam but its still a good deal

@kanisatha and @melkathi should I buy it now or for the Steam type discount which may not come back soon?

6 hours ago, BruceVC said:

Thanks, its 50% off which is not as much as Steam but its still a good deal

@kanisatha and @melkathi should I buy it now or for the Steam type discount which may not come back soon?

Yeah, tough call. I only buy on Steam so for me this is never an issue. And on Steam, I've seen the game on sale quite regularly. I'm sure it will have at least the same last sale price when the winter sale comes on in December. So, up to you whether you want to wait a couple of months or not.

7 hours ago, BruceVC said:

Thanks, its 50% off which is not as much as Steam but its still a good deal

@kanisatha and @melkathi should I buy it now or for the Steam type discount which may not come back soon?

I see, I forgot, that Steam might have better regional pricing for South Africa. Your call then. IMHO If you have anything else to play, go for it, and buy this on Xmas sale, on the platform, which will provide you a better price and enjoy the game through the Holidays.

35 minutes ago, Mamoulian War said:

I see, I forgot, that Steam might have better regional pricing for South Africa. Your call then. IMHO If you have anything else to play, go for it, and buy this on Xmas sale, on the platform, which will provide you a better price and enjoy the game through the Holidays.

Dont get me wrong, Im glad you pointed this out because I cant say for certain if I will get a better deal than 50% and this also includes all the DLC

Imagine if I wait till December and its not on sales special?

There is a good proverb in English about this type of decision " A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."

9 hours ago, BruceVC said:

One of the issues I picked up on from your site is I go to the website that has the best price but Im restricted because of my region

You probably dont experience this because you live in the EU? I can use a vpn or use IP masking but I don't like to do that for something like buying a game

But I will continue to use your link because it has huge potential on savings on the sites I can access from SA

I set up custom alerts for games I really want, deselecting all stores and then only adding the ones I want. So for example I have it ignore gamesplanet, as that has had issues with real price and display price not matching.

On 10/9/2026 at 9:05 AM, melkathi said:

Have you looked into Reka? https://store.steampowered.com/app/1737870/REKA/

Yup, saw that a year ago or so. But early-access. I mean I'm more willing to try ea these days "just cause" or if it's a well-established ea title, or super cheap enough, but I still try to wait. The walkin' house is a nice idea but it also doesn't equal freedom of building. Seems more atmosphere/adventure/cozy oriented. The near constant low contrast greyish fog smear lighting/backgrounds isn't my thing, either. Picky, I know. Heh.

I completed Dreams in the Witch House after about 15 hours

Its good fun as a quick adventure game with a Cthulhu setting and it has some engaging mechanics like how you study to progress skills and the survival elements that include food and sleep and how those align to your sanity

You get 60 days to complete one of the final endings and I wish I knew this because then I could have focused on one type of strategy

I ended up with an " okay " ending but not ideal. Im not going to replay the game but it would be easy to do that and get a better ending

My ending

I saved the child from being sacrificed and killed the witch and ended the curse. But I didnt kill the rat despite getting poison so the rat killed me at the end 😁

I also never worked out how to solve the occult puzzle on the island or what I was suppose to do in the strange world you sometimes go to when sleeping . But I did complete my Occult thesis and get most of my study skills to 10

In summary, its a worthy indie adventure game and recommended. It gets 65\100 on the "BruceVC game rating system "

Now Im going play SOMA

@majestic its time 👺

18 hours ago, LadyCrimson said:

Yup, saw that a year ago or so. But early-access. I mean I'm more willing to try ea these days "just cause" or if it's a well-established ea title, or super cheap enough, but I still try to wait. The walkin' house is a nice idea but it also doesn't equal freedom of building. Seems more atmosphere/adventure/cozy oriented. The near constant low contrast greyish fog smear lighting/backgrounds isn't my thing, either. Picky, I know. Heh.

I think it is leaving Early Access end of month or somewhere around there. I tried the demo, but I am not really into games where you build stuff and that are basically work.

^ all games feel like work these days, with all their multi-systems/skill-perk trees and 30 attack combos and 9999 items/resources, and/or too many decisions of any kind etc - at least outside of really simple clicker or "boomer" games. ;p
===================
Enshrouded 1.0 - updated (backed up old/saves, ofc). Seems fine. Reset my perk points and had to re-do those (slightly changed perk pathing than before). Performance on my old faithful PC is about the same. Maybe slightly better. Visually it looks better, LoD and object detail, yet also looks kinda ... dimmer. Hard to explain, must be a lighting thing. There's a few bad bugs (can't alter difficulty settings atm) but I'm sure that'll be fixed quick. My main base appears unaffected by any changes, which is cool. But I've practically forgotten how to play. The max flame altar (base claim-build-area thingies) has increased by four or five apparently. Which is great. Still not enough, but any increase is a good increase.
================
Scritchy Scratchy - forgot I bought this cheap incremental type lottery ticket game. Gave it a shot. I first thought it was going to end up as a simple "scratch various levels of tickets and then just endlessly make money" idle type thing, but apparently what you do is progress until a death ticket, which ends a session, gives you perk points to use on a perk tree - then you restart with those perks and some new tickets/levels/tools gained at points, to speed things up. Repeat several times until you get this one tool that lets you ultimately defeat/win the death ticket, which gives you an ending. And then if you want, you can start all over all maxed out (or completely start over).

It's silly and not really replayable, but for an incremental progression/idle it hits an obsessive note for 2-3 days (depends how obsessive/fast/slow one is) until win. I guess I got my 5-7 bucks worth or whatever I paid.

Edited Friday at 03:15 AM5 days by LadyCrimson

Pathfinder, wrath of the righteous. I started on the Ivory Tower until I got to a point where an army of angels spawns behind me and a wall prevents me from leaving to the main map again. Something rang a bell in my mind from my very first game (barbarian, trickster, legendary maxed out 40 levels run). I found a previous save and decided to save that part for later (because it sort of begins the end of chapter iii)

Visited Molten Scar, a Sarkorian mine, Blackwater (very frustrating, not because of enemies, I know how to zap and coup de grace them), but because the overall ambience is so dark its hard to spot the doors, even if I can open them ☹️

Visited Treebeard (not his real name, an ent garding a puzzle entrance). Took me way too long to work out the puzzle, with the little bridges closing and opening. I worked it out eventually when noticing that the lower of the two rows of "pegs" needs to be activated first, as they do not reset and lower themselves again, once raised i could focus on the patters on the upper row of pegs. Then it wasn't so hard to get the order correct.

Screwed over the old chief and handed over the Mongrel tribe to Wenduag. My archer succubus (no way I can spell her name) decided the prison cell should be her new home (no matter how much i tried to convince her that kissing a undead self wont drain my life force) and my Lich wannabe had a conversation with my new Pillar of Skulls. Also, added the corpse of Staunton to the ranks of the guards of my shiny new Ziggurath.

Anyone who can tell me what the Arcane Armour feat is good for? Does it work alone or do you need to then take feats in say light armour in addition to?

(leveling up as a sorcerer/lich with focus on undead bloodline powers, necromancy/evocation and max spell penetration). Also gave myself sufficient skills to wield a scythe, because it's cool (not very practical)

On 10/3/2026 at 10:05 PM, Wormerine said:

Granted, most of my experience with BG3 is from early access and early 1.0 which might not represent what the game fully became, but at a time I found game's reactivity to greatly fall short of systemic freedom game seems to permit.

The guy of many ImmSim choices seemed to like it a little. 😁

'The last time I liked everything about a game was probably Baldur's Gate 3': Raphael Colantonio, co-founder of Arkane Studios, talks us through the games installed on his PC | PC Gamer

I also thought it was a big upgrade over DOS (never really warmed up to that). It's remarkable how little MANDATORY combat there is, for a start (in particular for its genre... and with a little spell / environment creativity, charisma, sneaking and outside of the frigging box thinking rather than typical "tackle quest / area and rush through it). I mean, DOS is really a thinly veiled combat parcours, with every path through the maps gatekept by mobs (and if you don't keep level, you're toast). However, if you skip too much, you may still lack xp+gear for the end game (though speed runners are having a blast here exploiting the **** out of it). Still, Owlcat doesn't like this. :D

On topic: Thief II. Hadn't played that proper in a decade or something.

It's about time. They're not making them like this anymore. Whilst we're at it: Not a single fight so far in this one. 😆

Thief 2 - cutscene 6 [Eavesdropping]

Edited Friday at 04:25 PM5 days by Sven_

Finished Dark Envoy. As I said before, it's more of a dungeon crawler but with some limited RPG elements. Because I played on the 'Easy' setting, I could put my party on auto AI control for the combat encounters. That worked pretty well to get through the many, many combat encounters. The main story was somewhat thin, but good enough to hold my attention. Not too many side quests, but those that were there were pretty interesting. There is an extensive crafting and enchanting system, and it was easy to use, but I never really found a compelling need to use it because the loot drops had plenty of good-enough items.

The best part of the game were the party companions. They were not very deeply presented/written, and yet I found all of them very likeable and had empathy for them. This in contrast with the BG3 companions, who were very deeply and extensively written and yet I found them (mostly) unlikeable and annoying. Goes to show that at least for me, how deeply/well written are companion characters is very much secondary to whether I will like the characters and enjoy having them in my party. Those two things seem to be quite separate from each other.

Taking into account the game's price, and how much time I had to sink into it to complete it (not much), I'd give the game a 70/100. It was worth my money and time.

Got to the end of EA for Menace. I very much hope they add more advanced weapons and some interesting new game loop, but even if they don't what I played so far is great and well worth the asking price.

9 hours ago, Gorth said:

Anyone who can tell me what the Arcane Armour feat is good for? Does it work alone or do you need to then take feats in say light armour in addition to?

If you've multiclassed from/ to a class that gets the armour feats for free it can be useful, especially with armour that has lowered arcane failure anyway like elven/ mithril. Typical owlcat trying to recommend it all the time on level up without them though.

(And it's ludicrously useful in the roguelike dlc (midnight isles?) if you get the tailwind which gives bonus damage with higher arcane failure since its description is completely incorrect and it adds arcane failure to base damage rather than percentage. Hello plodding mage(s) wearing plate mail chain casting 100+ damage per projectile magic missile)