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Orv
May 4, 2011
It's not really anymore edgy than the Arkham games, it's just that things have gotten a lot worse and you're playing a bunch of jackasses. Wholly disagree with the others that it's not funny though, the writing is great for the most part, the mission structure just lets it way, way down.

E: The combat also, while really fun when it's all in place, is just never going to revolutionize things the way Asylum did. Can't win against yourself when you already got the grand slam.

Orv fucked around with this message at 05:34 on Feb 7, 2024

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CitizenKain
May 27, 2001

That was Gary Cooper, asshole.

Nap Ghost
Of the demos I've gone though, only Pacific Drive has really nailed it. Some of the UI felt a bit clunky, but they nailed the setting and feeling.

Lightyear Frontier: Played some of it, I think it will be solid, but I'm not sure I need yet another crafter game.

Stormgate: Really didn't grab me, feels like its going for a high speed RTS and thats not what I want.

Star Trucker: Just felt way too slow, I did like having all the things to press in the cab though. Promising though.

Millennia: Its a 4x civ game, moves a lot faster at the start then a regular civ at least. Hard to get a good feeling with only 60 turns.

Children of the Sun: Neat puzzle idea, but I couldn't stand the art style.

Croccers
Jun 15, 2012

FuzzySlippers posted:

Really the main character of Red Dawn is the Cuban officer so the game should more properly have you play as the NKs trying to suppress the rebellion of the plucky Americans. That’d make for an edgy strategy game.

Though the idea of anyone invading big dumb America surrounded by oceans is very lol of course.
Yeah that's why the preamble is so funny. It exists to make the game 'plausible', setting up the entirety of the US vulnerable and invadable but lol it's so stupid

I'm not joking when I said they set up a company to be Apple but North Korean, and they started making guns/arms.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwkNIS7AVxg

MarcusSA
Sep 23, 2007

Croccers posted:

Yeah that's why the preamble is so funny. It exists to make the game 'plausible', setting up the entirety of the US vulnerable and invadable but lol it's so stupid

I'm not joking when I said they set up a company to be Apple but North Korean, and they started making guns/arms.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwkNIS7AVxg

Na that seems cool actually

Hwurmp
May 20, 2005

Pacific Drive has a demo, but it's...really dull. Nothing dangerous to speak of except for some glowy yellow ground patches and electric towers that slowly drain your health.

FutureCop
Jun 7, 2011

Have you heard of Fermat's principle?
Day 2 of more NextFest impressions, woo!





Abiotic Factor - WOW

Basically Half-Life, but instead of being a one-man-army in a hazard suit blasting everything FPS-style, you're a frail nerdy scientist who must use his wits to escape the alien threat by crafting MacGyver-esque gadgets from scavenged office supplies, imm-sim/survival-style. Can also be played in coop if you want the whole science team!

Had a great time with this! Certainly felt like the game did a good job at pulling off the Half-Life role-reversal, and it's fun to see a survival crafter that doesn't take place outdoors, but within a research complex. Very goofy and novel. Did get a bit annoying with the limited inventory, but I suppose that's just to make inventory upgrades very desirable. I'd want to play it single-player, but I wonder if co-op would be the ideal way to play this, what with all the potential team roles and being able to share the very limited inventory space.





Pacific Drive - WOW

Have fun taking your station wagon on a road trip as you undergo expeditions through The Zone, a place fraught with supernatural dangers and anomalies. You'll have to scavenge supplies to not only maintain your car, but upgrade and customize it to take on harder challenges and hopefully unravel the mystery.

Really enjoyed this one: it's like the car version of STALKER, though a bit more run/level-based instead of open-world. Loved the deep sense of not only interfacing with your car while driving (shifting gears, headlights, wipers, parking, etc) but also maintaining it by repairing cracks, replacing flat tires, upgrading parts, refueling, and so on through scavenging? Potential worries: I wonder if maintenance will get tedious eventually, and the enemies/anomalies to contend with so far are pretty easy, so I hope it will get more intense. Fans of Metro, STALKER, Mad Max, My Summer Car, Jalopy and so on will definitely enjoy this game.





Death of a Wish - WOW

Bring the goddamn church down with your edgy protagonist in this very surreal and unique hack-and-slash RPG which combines deep and complex spectacle combat with a bizarre dream-like world and a cryptic, emotional story.

This is the sequel to Lucah Born of a Dream which was a recent favorite of mine: it looks like the story is an alternate perspective take on it, and has had a lot of notable upgrades to the combat system which takes care of practically all my complaints with the previous entry and makes it a bit more Sekiro-like (no stamina, stance bars, environmental teleports, clearer and more balanced mechanics, etc). If you're a fan of games with stylish combat and trippy, surreal, emotional stories, such as Nier Automata, then I highly suggest you check this (and the previous one) out.


I'll have to give these a shot if I can: neat stuff!

FutureCop fucked around with this message at 06:40 on Feb 8, 2024

Oenis
Mar 15, 2012

mystes posted:

I like roguelike deck builders

I tried a few that didn't look like poo poo to begin with, and https://store.steampowered.com/app/1915780/Tendryll/ stood out as a decent mash up of deckbuilding and Into the Breach.


The other one I tried,
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2539880/CARDS_RPG_The_Misty_Battlefield/ was a cool mix of Fire Emblem and Slay the Spire in theory, but it was incredibly basic and boring, since all characters share the same pool of cards (attack 10/defend 10 in the beginning), so there's nothing to give each character any identity. The cards I found were also all really dull. The combat system annyoing, because accidentally right clicking immediately ends your turn. And so on.

Oenis fucked around with this message at 09:07 on Feb 7, 2024

Fruits of the sea
Dec 1, 2010

FutureCop posted:

Pacific Drive

Have fun taking your station wagon on a road trip as you undergo expeditions through The Zone, a place fraught with supernatural dangers and anomalies. You'll have to scavenge supplies to not only maintain your car, but upgrade and customize it to take on harder challenges and hopefully unravel the mystery.

Really enjoyed this one: it's like the car version of STALKER, though a bit more run/level-based instead of open-world. Loved the deep sense of not only interfacing with your car while driving (shifting gears, headlights, wipers, parking, etc) but also maintaining it by repairing cracks, replacing flat tires, upgrading parts, refueling, and so on through scavenging? Potential worries: I wonder if maintenance will get tedious eventually, and the enemies/anomalies to contend with so far are pretty easy, so I hope it will get more intense. Fans of Metro, STALKER, Mad Max, My Summer Car, Jalopy and so on will definitely enjoy this game.

Are the areas handcrafted? And by runs, do you mean it's a roguelike? I dig the concept, but part of what I loved about STALKER (and Metro to a lesser degree) was how memorable it was to explore the landmarks.

The 7th Guest
Dec 17, 2003

tonight was the first time i really allowed myself to play a bunch of demos one after the other...

first i'll mention that I can't get the Awita demo to boot up on the Deck so I may have to wait on that to be patched.


I'd like to say that Frogun Encore has fixed the original's problems, but the game is kind of more of the same. It is better; the biggest improvements are the addition of a double jump, and a change to a fixed-camera ala Mario 3D Land/World. This means no more irritating aiming issues or having to rely on the 45 degree toggle. Buuuuut, the general flow of the levels hasn't really changed. Renata's movement animation has been sped up but her actual movement speed seems to be about the same (which is, to say, slow). The sound effects, voice samples, and enemies in the demo are the same from the first game. I dislike that jars reappear (but empty) when you die and go back to a checkpoint. The music is as mid and annoying as the original's. I want to like this series but the flaws keep it lower down in the ranks. Expected Release Date: Late 2024


Umbraclaw has a striking aesthetic, a mix of thick inkwork and pixel art, and its gameplay is slightly more experimental for Inti Creates, who usually works towards a certain formula time and time again. Though the game has the look of a Metroidvania, it's kind of different. You start out with no abilities, but whenever you lose one of your nine lives, you gain an ability, whether it's the ability to actually attack enemies, or to glide, or to dash faster & further. The more you die, the more likely you are to transform into a humanoid cat who has all the abilities but, as I understand it, aims you towards a worse ending. So you'll need to use your hope points (the main currency earned in-game) to reject the transformation (either before it happens, or at the end of a stage) which resets all the abilities you gained. There's also a decently-sized skill tree which has useful perks like adding to your health bar, making your primary evasive manuever cost less stamina, etc. But beating bosses also unlocks an alternate skill shop which has even greater perks. I don't know if I 100% like the game (it's a lil janky and clunky), but it's interesting. It's perhaps the most interesting thing I've seen out of Inti Creates since the Bloodstained Curse of the Moon games. Expected Release Date: May 2024

And now, a bunch of alliterative demos!


Tiny Terry's Turbo Trip comes from the developer of fantastic indie platformer Wuppo, and it's a silly little open world 3D platformer that carries forward that strange sense of humor. Your character has one simple wish: to get a car and drive it into space. To do that you'll have to find turbo junk around town to upgrade your car... but outside of that, the game has more of a sandbox feel to it. You can do whatever you want in whatever order. You can just drive around bonking people, try to jump up on top of everything to collect turbo junk, there's a shovel for digging up money/treasure, and a butterfly net for catchin' stuff. The demo is an early build and it shows (some no-clipping, odd pathfinding), but I'll definitely keep an eye on this one. Expected Release Date: No date given, but I'll say 2025


Duck Detective takes the Obra Dinn/Golden Idol experience and makes it a bit more all-ages friendly. A couple of voices are a little... loud. But I think the heart's in the right place here. Talking to people and examining things up close yields key words and names, which you then use to construct a deductive sentence ala Golden Idol. It's cute, but the demo itself is very short, just enough to give you a sense of what they're going for. That said, this is going to be a pretty short game. The store page says 2-3 hours, but I'd be surprised if the full version even reached 2 hours. Expected Release Date: 2024

And now, even more alliterative demos, all with the same initials!


Ohh this is really cute. And hard. It's an arcade game called Cash Cow DX, by SARL-S, who made Donut Dodo in 2022. It's a Mappy-like but much faster (and even has some Sonic loop-de-loops), as you scoop up all the gems while avoiding baddies, unless you find the pickaxe and have a few seconds to wreck their poo poo. The music slaps, the aesthetic is on point, and I especially appreciate the "quick restart" option in the pause menu. Finally a dev understands me, that sometimes I gently caress up right at the start and want to just start over immediately, and this option takes you right to the start of the first stage. Donut Dodo was $5 and I assume this will be too. Expected Release Date: February 16th (Next Friday!)


Crow Country is by SFB Games, who made the awesome adventure game Tangle Tower (and its upcoming sequel The Mermaid's Tongue). This, however, is a 90s survival horror game, with a look that resembles early launch-era PS1 games with simpler character/enemy shapes. It's got a real vibe. You're investigating an amusement park that has gotten all hosed up with evil. It's got the awkward point and shoot of RE1, the save rooms and the map that updates as you unlock doors and solve puzzles... it's doing everything right so far. I have a lot of trust in this developer and I bet this one will be a top 25 game in my list at the end of the year. Expected Release Date: 2024


What's going on here, not only am I playing a lot of alliterative demos but this is the second one about a cat in the afterlife! Crypt Custodian is by Kyle Thompson, the developer of two solid Metroidvanias (Sheepo and Islets), and continues that tradition into the top-down perspective. That does I guess make this a Zelda-like, but more action heavy, so maybe Death's Door is a better comparison? IDK. I don't think this will have the crazy secret stuff of Tunic or anything like that. Just a solid meat and potatoes kinda Metroidvania experience. I like the art and the characters, and it's combo-less so there's no annoying pause buffer to get in the way of all my slashing. Definitely going to pick this one up at some point. Expected Release Date: 2024

Added to wishlist so far: Cash Cow DX, Children of the Sun, Crow Country, Crypt Custodian, Cyber Manhunt: New World (i know, I'm trash), Duck Detective, Islands of Insight, Pampas & Selene
Not wishlisted: #BLUD, Devil's Hideout, Emberward, Frogun Encore, Mullet Mad Jack, Summerhouse, Umbraclaw
Up Next: Ereban: Shadow Legacy, Hauntii, Indika, Pepper Grinder, honestly too many still lol

The 7th Guest fucked around with this message at 10:40 on Feb 7, 2024

credburn
Jun 22, 2016
President, Founder of the Brent Spiner Fan Club
What does DX mean in games? I feel like I've seen several games that have DX at the end of it.

Mierenneuker
Apr 28, 2010


We're all going to experience changes in our life but only the best of us will qualify for front row seats.

credburn posted:

What does DX mean in games? I feel like I've seen several games that have DX at the end of it.

Some games are very horny and just want to show their DX in public.

Or it probably stands for deluxe, which with games usually means an improved/updated edition of a title released earlier (perhaps on a different platform).

WarEternal
Dec 26, 2010

Goodness no, now that wouldn't do at all!

mycot posted:

As someone who shotgunned the entire Arkham series a couple years ago, the Suicide Squad game seems to have the exact same tone as those. Insanely over the top grimdark but also completely humorless.

It has the same "story by" credit as the rest of the games. The scriptwriters are different but the same core is there. I agree with you, for some reason people are acting like an entirely different company made this game.

fez_machine
Nov 27, 2004
Here's some next fest demos I played with a focus on corkboarders


Duck Detective: The Secret Salami

An extremely light Obra Dinn-like. The demo was over before it began, they're not joking when they say it's a ten minute demo, and I highly suspect that it's a single case game. The two deductions present in the demo weren't very impressive. It feels like this should be for children but the actual content and humor/allusions is just a little too adult. Verdict: Not wishlisted


TOKYO PSYCHODEMIC

I genuinely thought this game would suck when I put it on my demo list, but nope this fucks. It's a very high production value Japanese mystery visual novel with an excellent English translation! Taking place in an alternate world where the 2020 pandemic started in Japan and was much much more lethal. You're tasked with solving supposedly paranormal crimes linked to a psychic experimentation cult with the help of a dark web chat room, access to police documents and security cam footage, and a cork board. If you liked AI: The Somnium Files this is one to watch. Verdict: Wishlisted and probably going to buy day 1 if it's priced reasonably.


Alcyone: The Last City

It's Fallen London without the action limit. You'll know if that's appealing to you or not. It is to me. I've been following this for years and I'm very excited that it's finally getting closer and closer to release. The demo is super short unfortunately, just enough to capture the mood, show some basic mechanics and showcase the bizarre post-end of the universe setting. A lot of effort put into making this text based game, blind accessible. Verdict: Wishlisted

fez_machine fucked around with this message at 11:53 on Feb 7, 2024

bobthenameless
Jun 20, 2005

credburn posted:

What does DX mean in games? I feel like I've seen several games that have DX at the end of it.

in addition to the previously mentioned Deluxe meaning, i've always associated it with game boy color games largely because Link's Awakening DX was the GBC version of the original Link's Awakening - more colors than GB shades of green! New items!

Goa Tse-tung
Feb 11, 2008

;3

Yams Fan
Alcyone looks very tempting.

Jossar
Apr 2, 2018

Current status: Angry about subs :argh:

fez_machine posted:



Alcyone: The Last City

It's Fallen London without the action limit. You'll know if that's appealing to you or not. It is to me. I've been following this for years and I'm very excited that it's finally getting closer and closer to release. The demo is super short unfortunately, just enough to capture the mood, show some basic mechanics and showcase the bizarre post-end of the universe setting. A lot of effort put into making this text based game, blind accessible. Verdict: Wishlisted

I haven't played Fallen London, but I've heard a lot of people recommend it in contexts that suggest I might like it, so might as well add this to the list. Thanks!

Beve Stuscemi
Jun 6, 2001




Has anyone tried pacific drive on the deck? How does it run there?

tripwood
Jul 21, 2003

"Cuno can see you're trying to shit him, but Cuno's unshittable, so fuck does Cuno care?"

Hint: He doesn't care.
I wonder if there ever will be another text heavy game in the Fallen London style that uses the most important part of Disco Elysium: a properly readable sidebar with decent fonts that don't look squinty and unreadable. Why can't anyone else capture that UI lightning again?

Jack Trades
Nov 30, 2010

tripwood posted:

I wonder if there ever will be another text heavy game in the Fallen London style that uses the most important part of Disco Elysium: a properly readable sidebar with decent fonts that don't look squinty and unreadable. Why can't anyone else capture that UI lightning again?

The UI wasn't particularly novel. Shadowrun games had practically the same UI for dialogue for example.
It was the writing that made all the text particularly digestible in Disco Elysium. There's an interview where the writer talks about how they specifically wrote the game to be akin to a Twitter timeline with a flow of short eyecatching messages, and how they went out of their way to make sure that the writing was constantly provoking you, the player, to keep you engaged in the same way as a Twitter timeline would.

fez_machine
Nov 27, 2004

tripwood posted:

I wonder if there ever will be another text heavy game in the Fallen London style that uses the most important part of Disco Elysium: a properly readable sidebar with decent fonts that don't look squinty and unreadable. Why can't anyone else capture that UI lightning again?

Try the Alcyone demo? The sidebar is huge and breaks up the text in to far more readable chunks than even Disco Elysium. Really following Jon Ingold's advice on how much text to display.

Your Computer
Oct 3, 2008




Grimey Drawer
ever since the UI overhaul steam just crashes when i try to view my screenshots. i have uh, i have many thousand screenshots


is this a known problem, is there a fix, etc.? i feel like a clown

e:

:negative:

Your Computer fucked around with this message at 15:02 on Feb 7, 2024

Velocity Raptor
Jul 27, 2007

I MADE A PROMISE
I'LL DO ANYTHING

Your Computer posted:

ever since the UI overhaul steam just crashes when i try to view my screenshots. i have uh, i have many thousand screenshots


is this a known problem, is there a fix, etc.? i feel like a clown

Found this in the steam forums from 12/30/23 so it's recent enough that it may help.

https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/0/4031348273660472061/

Vaagur (on Steam) posted:

Yeah, close Steam, go to: Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\(YOUR STEAM #)\760

Delete: screenshots.vdf

It deletes the thumbnail preview of your screenshots (it seems to keep your screenshots on your computer so far) and it keeps the screenshots you have uploaded on the Cloud.

It stops crashing my screenshot manager so I guess that's a fix.

---

When you re-open the game it re-creates the thumbnails, so if you want to get rid of all the screenshots you won't upload permanently do this...

Close Steam, go to: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\(YOUR STEAM #)\760\remote

Find the ID of your game, open that folder and delete all the screenshots inside. For good measure you can delete screenshots.vdf again if it reappeared.

---

Actually, it still crashed later on. Deleting the entire 760 folder fixed it I think.

Probably doesn't need saying, but back up your 760 folder into another directory before deleting if you want to save anything in there.

Raymond T. Racing
Jun 11, 2019

Pacific Drive: The content creator demo that was available to YouTubers et al felt better paced (some more antagonistic things rather than chill driving), so I was a bit disappointed to see how quickly the Steam demo cut off.

CharlestheHammer
Jun 26, 2011

YOU SAY MY POSTS ARE THE RAVINGS OF THE DUMBEST PERSON ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH BUT YOU YOURSELF ARE READING THEM. CURIOUS!
Wait people thought the Arkham games were grimdark? Because that’s insanely funny.

They were literally dark but they weren’t exactly grim

Kin
Nov 4, 2003

Sometimes, in a city this dirty, you need a real hero.

Orv posted:

I think “hateful of its own legacy” is a hyper weird read. It’s a game where you kill most of the Justice League, Superman kills Wonder Woman and everything and everyone sucks all the time. It’s just the story they’re telling.

Yeah I watched the 3.5 hours of cutscenes on YouTube and it was weirdly flat on the whole. Like if it wasn't for a couple of references here and there you'd hardly even connect it to the Arkhamverse outside of the few Batman bits.

There's not even much effort for any of the Justice League deaths either. You shoot them a lot, their health bar depletes and they crumple to the ground, then the cutscene starts and they're already dead (well other than green lantern and Batman who each get a head shot in their cutscene after some words).

But like the superman fight, it just sort of ends and he's dead. That's it. Then Brainiac shows up and you do the same thing again.


Basically, it's a game that exists and so few people are going to play it that noone will even connect it to the death of the Arkhamverse.

Your Computer
Oct 3, 2008




Grimey Drawer

Velocity Raptor posted:

Found this in the steam forums from 12/30/23 so it's recent enough that it may help.

https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/0/4031348273660472061/

Probably doesn't need saying, but back up your 760 folder into another directory before deleting if you want to save anything in there.

i tried deleting screenshots.vdf and it only made steam crash even worse, just straight to desktop :negative:

guess i'll just have to move all these and sort through them manually. it sucks really bad because they're all named like 45598035903 so it's really hard to manually find anything without the steam screenshot "app"

Mr E
Sep 18, 2007

I gave up and switched to ShareX for screenshots because steam screenshots are difficult to organize once you're past a few hundred.

FutureCop
Jun 7, 2011

Have you heard of Fermat's principle?

Fruits of the sea posted:

Are the areas handcrafted? And by runs, do you mean it's a roguelike? I dig the concept, but part of what I loved about STALKER (and Metro to a lesser degree) was how memorable it was to explore the landmarks.

Good question! It was something that I was a bit concerned about as well, and the game unfortunately only lets you play the tutorial and one story mission, so I'm unsure of specifics on the randomization. Taking glimpses at other playthroughs, the first story mission seems to generally be the same as it was for me with the same landmarks and layout, but different hazards (for example, I saw someone stop by a gas station without issue, whereas for me it was absolutely covered by this crowd of mannequins which explode on contact). However, I'm unsure: perhaps they make it so that these levels are very handcrafted to tutorialize certain aspects since they are the first or part of the story, but later levels, or non-story levels, could be very more random?

General gameplay loop seems to be thus:

1) Start in your home garage with your car and crafting tables
2) Upgrade, repair, and pack up your car with essentials
3) Go to route planner and pick the area you want to travel to (which might have randomized factors like weather hazards and such?)
4) Drive car out of garage and to departure door
5) You are now warped to the zone you picked on route planner
6) Explore the zone, scavenge and complete story objectives (or maybe you can visit non-story locations to gather supplies without an objective?)
7) Once you're done, search for an anchor point, which is used to create an escape teleport, but which dangerously destabilizes the zone
8) Race to escape teleport point as zone crumbles
9) Back in home garage, go back to step 1

Yeah, it is a bit disappointing that the game isn't fully open-world, especially considering it is primarily a driving game, so I understand if that's a deal-breaker for some. Ideally, I would want an experience similar to Into the Radius, STALKER, or Outward, for the full road-trip experience, but this is more expedition/mission-based.

Here are some images of the 'route planner' that you use in the garage, basically the thing that determines where you warp to when you drive out of your garage:




Not sure what happens with certain aspects like death: from what I hear it spawns you back in the home garage all beat-up.

FutureCop fucked around with this message at 17:06 on Feb 7, 2024

Barry Convex
Sep 1, 2005

Think of the good things, Pim! The good things!

Like Jesus, candy, and crackerjacks! Ice cream and cake and lots o'laffs!
Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Joe! Larry, Curly, and brother Moe!
Steam Next Fest Demos I've played thus far:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1309950/Children_of_the_Sun/

extremely stylish Superhot-esque sniper gameplay; feels very polished, though I'm not entirely clear yet that there's enough variety for an entire campaign

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2076580/Pepper_Grinder/

Didn't play this one for very long, but the drill "swimming" mechanic and using it to gain additional height feels great

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1921480/BLUD/

A lot of work clearly went into the Cartoon Network-esque animation, but it's a bit too exaggerated for my taste, and seems like there's a little too much focus on writing and art direction over getting you into the gameplay. Might work better as a Zelda-like in the full game, though

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2394650/Crypt_Custodian/

Top-down Metroidvania (I normally think of that as oxymoronic but it's not clear that this has puzzle dungeons or other key Zelda tropes, so we'll go with that for now) with a cute cat-in-the-afterlife conceit, great art direction, and solid level design and controls.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2316580/Tales_of_Kenzera_ZAU/

Very pretty 2.5D African-inspired Metroidvania, though it doesn't feel quite as polished as the demo of the somewhat similar-looking PoP: The Lost Crown did, with significant (shader compilation?) stutter on my PC. Still very much looking forward to the full game, though.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1430220/BIOMORPH/

Only played this one for a few minutes, but seems like it's trying to be a more accessible sci-fi Hollow Knight where you can shapeshift into enemies, hence the title. seems promising

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2386310/Ultros/

Probably my favorite of the Metroidvania demos I've played thus far, along with Crypt Custodian. Psychedelic art direction that really doesn't look like any other game in the genre I've ever played, with movement and combat that are simple thus far but feel great.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1373960/INDIKA/

still need to finish this one - linear third-person narrative game where you play as a Russian nun, dealing with mental illness (or possibly demonic possession) in a very Hellblade-esque manner. Great production values and visuals, intriguing story, solid pacing thus far

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1671360/Ereban_Shadow_Legacy/

Barely had time to play this but the shadow traversal mechanic seems cool and opens up a lot of possibilities for puzzles, stealth, and platforming

Barry Convex fucked around with this message at 17:00 on Feb 7, 2024

Eason the Fifth
Apr 9, 2020

CharlestheHammer posted:

Wait people thought the Arkham games were grimdark? Because that’s insanely funny.

They were literally dark but they weren’t exactly grim

Thus got me wondering, is there a batman game with the animated series style? I'm usually not a fan of batman stuff due to an unmentionable experience with the 1989 NES batman, but I'd love to play a game with that art style.

ScootsMcSkirt
Oct 29, 2013

CharlestheHammer posted:

Wait people thought the Arkham games were grimdark? Because that’s insanely funny.

They were literally dark but they weren’t exactly grim

Its da Bat!!!

John Murdoch
May 19, 2009

I can tune a fish.

Eason the Fifth posted:

Thus got me wondering, is there a batman game with the animated series style? I'm usually not a fan of batman stuff due to an unmentionable experience with the 1989 NES batman, but I'd love to play a game with that art style.

There were at least a handful starting in the 16-bit era and continuing on from there. I seem to recall the Gamecube had two where one is fondly remembered and the other is terrible.

Or you could just awkwardly run around Arkham City in the BTAS skin. :v:

exquisite tea
Apr 21, 2007

Carly shook her glass, willing the ice to melt. "You still haven't told me what the mission is."

She leaned forward. "We are going to assassinate the bad men of Hollywood."


Eason the Fifth posted:

Thus got me wondering, is there a batman game with the animated series style? I'm usually not a fan of batman stuff due to an unmentionable experience with the 1989 NES batman, but I'd love to play a game with that art style.

There was The Adventures of Batman & Robin that came out for SNES/Genesis in 1995. It was more of an action platformer than a beatemup though.

Hwurmp
May 20, 2005

ScootsMcSkirt posted:

Its da Bat!!!

*da freakin bat

Nefarious 2.0
Apr 22, 2008

Offense is overrated anyway.

I'm the henchman with no weapons or armor who just watched batman put 18 of my comrades in the icu. I feel it. my time is n

Waffle!
Aug 6, 2004

I Feel Pretty!


Nefarious 2.0 posted:

I'm the henchman with no weapons or armor who just watched batman put 18 of my comrades in the icu. I feel it. my time is n

"I sure hope Batgirl doesn't choke me out with her thighs while my back is turned!"

Velocity Raptor
Jul 27, 2007

I MADE A PROMISE
I'LL DO ANYTHING

Waffle! posted:

"I sure hope Batgirl doesn't choke me out with her thighs while my back is turned!"

I'm afraid Batgirl isn't doing anything with her legs to anyone.

Waffle!
Aug 6, 2004

I Feel Pretty!


Velocity Raptor posted:

I'm afraid Batgirl isn't doing anything with her legs to anyone.

Someone forgot to tell Gotham Knights :eyepop:

Waffle! fucked around with this message at 17:50 on Feb 7, 2024

Fruits of the sea
Dec 1, 2010

FutureCop posted:

Good question! It was something that I was a bit concerned about as well, and the game unfortunately only lets you play the tutorial and one story mission, so I'm unsure of specifics on the randomization. Taking glimpses at other playthroughs, the first story mission seems to generally be the same as it was for me with the same landmarks and layout, but different hazards (for example, I saw someone stop by a gas station without issue, whereas for me it was absolutely covered by this crowd of mannequins which explode on contact). However, I'm unsure: perhaps they make it so that these levels are very handcrafted to tutorialize certain aspects since they are the first or part of the story, but later levels, or non-story levels, could be very more random?

General gameplay loop seems to be thus:

1) Start in your home garage with your car and crafting tables
2) Upgrade, repair, and pack up your car with essentials
3) Go to route planner and pick the area you want to travel to (which might have randomized factors like weather hazards and such?)
4) Drive car out of garage and to departure door
5) You are now warped to the zone you picked on route planner
6) Explore the zone, scavenge and complete story objectives (or maybe you can visit non-story locations to gather supplies without an objective?)
7) Once you're done, search for an anchor point, which is used to create an escape teleport, but which dangerously destabilizes the zone
8) Race to escape teleport point as zone crumbles
9) Back in home garage, go back to step 1

Interesting! I've got it wishlisted, guess I'll keep an eye out for what folks say on release.

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bideojames
Aug 29, 2004

>:3

Eason the Fifth posted:

Thus got me wondering, is there a batman game with the animated series style? I'm usually not a fan of batman stuff due to an unmentionable experience with the 1989 NES batman, but I'd love to play a game with that art style.

Wayforward made a Batman: Brave and the Bold game for the Wii in the 2D animated series style that i remember being pretty fun

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