Hawke64

Finished Signalis. A very pretty game with a lot of irritating design choices. The game successfully replicates everything I dislike about older console games - the unrebindable controls, the limited inventory, the severely restricted saving, and obscure ending requirements. Additionally, the most labyrinthine section misses the map. The combat system, with the combination of reviving foes (because zombies), limited ammunition, and the damage dealt depending on the time spent aiming (i.e. the longer you aim at a particular opponent, the higher the damage), is unpleasant, but this is expected and the least irritating of the design choices. If one can tolerate it and does not care about the outcome, it might be an interesting survival horror in a sci-fi setting, with a strong critique of communism in general and the Soviets/PRC in particular. The puzzles and bosses are easy enough (on the default difficulty) to keep the pacing consistent. Arguably, for the right-handed players with the QWERTY keyboard layout, the control scheme should be comfortable enough. The system requirements are adequate, the art and sound design are gorgeous (excluding the foes' screams upon noticing the protagonist, which get old fast), and 5-button mice are supported (the 4th and the 5th buttons are used for reloading and using the equipped item). Finally, the game is mostly VA-free (there are some spoken lines in German, but they are in the background).

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/valve-now-require-uk-steam-users-to-verify-their-ages-using-a-credit-card The petition to repeal the OSA: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/722903

Elephantasy turned out to not support the Steam Overlay and I noticed it too late, so there are very few screenshots for such an artistic game.

Intel i7 8750H (the Turbo Mode is disabled due to overheating), Nvidia RTX 2070, Win 10 with DirectX 12.1. The Avowed minimum system requirements are: OS: Windows 10/11 with updates Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 / Intel i5-8400 Memory: 16 GB RAM Graphics: AMD RX 5700 / Nvidia GTX 1070 / Intel Arc A580 DirectX: Version 12 Storage: 75 GB available space Which means it may or may not run, as the CPU and the OS version can easily be unsupported. While the 75GB download size means that I will not try any time soon. For the last part, my point of comparison is Steelrising - there were 26GB of the game and 40GB of junk that are unusable textures. It was kind of the developer to at least put them in one file, so I could easily remove them, yet I should not have to download them in the first place. --- https://itch.io/b/3171/game-devs-of-color-support-bundle There are at least a few game sthere from my wishlist (which I probably repurchase on Steam/GOG if I end up liking them enough).

I thank you for your input and I am happy to know that Avowed was working on your hardware. Nonetheless, I would like to point out that at release the Steam Deck performance was reported as poor with the FPS dropping below 30 at the lowest settings (the handheld is a decent indicator of whether it would run on my main system, excluding some OS version-related fluff which is a no-go), while the system requirements still show both the minimum and the recommended storage space as 75GB, meaning that the unusable for me textures are baked in and I would be forced to download them regardless. The Outer Worlds 1 was an excellent example of handing it - the players who could afford to spend more on their hardware and energy could access the more energy-consuming graphical features for a modest fee, while the others still could play the game comfortably without missing out on anything. Still, I am happy to wait for my hardware to be able to meet the recommended system requirements which is also likely to coincide with the price being equal to the consideration the developers gave to the optimisation. It is applicable for both The Outer Worlds 2 and Avowed. I do hope that PoE3 will have "less graphics" and full save file import, should it ever happen. Arguably, PoEII is ~50GB, but it was worth it.

I have "finished" Elephantasy: Flipside as in "reached an ending" (there are 4). The game is significantly more hardcore (challenging and janky), than Tunic. It is also possible to teleport right outside the final boss room by editing the save file, if one knows the room’s coordinates. The final boss battle lasts about 8 minutes, providing that you do not die to the RNG and bugs. While I found the experience to be more frustrating than rewarding, due to the visibility (only one room is visible at a time) and platforming, if one seeks an old-school adventure with exploration and puzzles, this is it. It is also not possible to take screenshots via Steam Overlay.

The companions look quite good and the last line sounds very encouraging and appealing. Though, Microsoft still owns Obsidian. Well, that and the expectedly poor optimisation of TOW2 - I will not purchase something I cannot run, while the 4K textures would be a waste of storage space and energy. The developers not moving them into a separate free DLC show the lack of consideration for both the players and the environment. VTMB2 getting released is interesting. While I do not expect it to be a faithful successor or a deep immersive sim, it still might be an engaging action in the VTM setting. Granted, the voice-in-the-head will be silenced quite quickly.

I have finished Blasphemous 2. In terms of the moment-to-moment gameplay, it feels like an improvement, though narratively, the story wrapped up in the previous game, while the ridiculous number of various collectibles and the changes to the character’s builds somehow spoil the enjoyment. The game is still breathtakingly beautiful and the bosses are varied and challenging. I purchased the game with the DLC, so while I might not have noticed all differences, the clearly DLC-specific areas consisted mostly of the arenas, i.e. I could not proceed without murdering several waves of recoloured foes. The platforming challenges were mostly doable and the new weapon (1) functional. The bosses, however, were irritating, though the (probably) new spells helped greatly in dealing with them. I have also finished Planescape: Torment - Enhanced Edition. It runs well and there is a wide range of accessibility options, such as item highlight and font size. The unlimited number of manual hard saves and the ability to pause at any time were present in the original version as well and it is good to see them. Some cut-scenes were missing subtitles, however. Admittedly, without seeing why dialogue options are available or locked and because of the very limited class selection and character customisation in general, it is not the most engaging RPG-labeled game I have played, while the ending(s) is unsatisfying. Nonetheless, it is an important part of our history and it is welcome to see it to be available and accessible. I have started Elephantasy: Flipside which I’ve got from the Queer Games Bundle 2025. So far, it feels like Tunic, but with more hardcore platforming. The game looks lovely, the controls are customisable, and the map feels quite large. Partially, due to large chunks of it being inaccessible at the moment, as they require various traversal items I have not found yet. To be precise, I think I have found the main questline and the said pile of items, but I can hold only one at the moment, with the limit increasing as I progress with the game. There is some form of fast travel available from the start. The in-game map, unfortunately, is not quite helpful - it is monochromous and I cannot leave markers on it. It is 3D, though. I might proceed with it a bit longer or try another game from the bundle.

Thank you very much for the detailed response. Leap of Faith and Sapphire Safari sound fine - I liked Long Live the Queen (including the untimely demise near the ending because I did not get the magic crystal), so will try after completing the games I am currently playing (Planescape: Torment and Blasphemous 2). Regarding the match-3 games, I recently finished Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion 3 and it was an amazing experience (the story was about game development). Though, might not be the most suitable title to zone out to.

I have claimed the bundle and played Treasure of Nadia for 30 minutes. I am unsure what I expected in terms of writing and gameplay. The 7GB of looped pre-rendered animations are generally fine, I guess. If anyone else tried any of the other games in the bundle, is there anything worth playing (that is not Postal 2)?

Queer Games Bundle 2025 is up. Later this year due to the technical/admin issues, as I understand, and not related to the MC/Visa bs. https://itch.io/b/3062/queer-games-bundle-2025-with-10-option https://itch.io/b/3063/queer-games-bundle-2025-pay-what-you-can-edition

Some far-right group pressured Steam and Itch.io into removing content by lobbying the payment processors. I'd guess that it was not so much due to those particular a*holes, but because of the general political situation in the US. Nonetheless, let us stand together against censorship. https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/itchio-apologise-for-frustration-and-confusion-after-delisting-thousands-of-nsfw-projects Petition: https://www.change.org/p/tell-mastercard-visa-activist-groups-stop-controlling-what-we-can-watch-read-or-play Contact information of the payment processors: Mastercard Phone (US): 1-800-627-8372 US option selection for operator: 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 1 Phone (outside US): 1-636-722-7111 Email: customer_support@mastercard.com Online form: https://www.mastercard.com/us/en/personal/get-support/ask-mastercard.html Visa Phone (US): 1-800-847-2911 US option selection for operator: 1, 1, 2 or 1, 1, 3 Non-US phone numbers: https://usa.visa.com/contact-us.html Email: askvisa@visa.com Online form: https://usa.visa.com/Forms/contact-us-form.html Paypal Phone (US): 1-888-221-1161 Phone (outside US): 1-402-935-2050 Hours: 6am - 6pm PT Online form: https://www.paypal.com/uk/cshelp/complaints

Deathloop is free on EGS. It still refused to run for me, but at least I don't have to refund it. The Dragon Age and Mass Effect artbook bundles are available on Fanatical: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/dragon-age-comics-and-art-book-bundle https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/mass-effect-comics-and-art-book-bundle (now I know what was the logic behind the "no helmets in the vacuum" design)

For me, the premise and the artstyle were appealing, but the combination of no highlighting for the interactive items, the lack of settings, the "gather X of Y items to proceed" aspect, and the protagonist was not. --- Desta: The Memories Between It seems to be a turn-based sports-like game with rogue-like elements. The graphics and visual style are nice, the controls consist of the mouse buttons, though the gameplay is not exactly my genre (I did like Pyre, though). Virtue's Heaven Demo

The Bookwalker Mistakes were made - the game is unpleasant, from the story to "puzzles" to accessibility and I missed the refund window (granted, the last part is on me). The text seems to be from a cancer research paper. So, from this moment, I named the MC F_ckface. It is fitting if nothing else. And at this point I realised that even if I cannot refund it, I can still save my time. Pretty visuals alone cannot hold a game. Rebel Transmute. It is a decent Metroidvania, though I am not too fond of the semi-ranged combat. Very nice otherwise. The Steam screenshot function does not work, though.