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They need to start making these NextFests longer. There is seriously too many demos. Ciaphas posted:WitchHand is out today - looks like Stacklands meets cute witches and familiars n stuff, and I am all for that They had a demo in one of the previous NextFests. It was, indeed, very Stacklands. Megazver fucked around with this message at 01:32 on Feb 8, 2024 |
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GrandpaPants posted:As someone who really liked Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, did Survivor unfuck its technical issues yet? The arch-nerds at Digital Foundry put it on their list of worst PC ports of 2023 in a video about a month back. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d29ht5KuSw8 Was hoping they would address the issues with patches since I had some interest in checking it out but at this point I'm guessing it's another game which will never be fixed. At least reviews of the console version seem generally happy enough, play it there if you have the option.
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Feb 8, 2024 02:29
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lol the game itself calls EDI a sex bot. That is kind of funny. This Citadel DLC seems to have a pretty good sense of humor, and they actually allowed (male) Shepard's voice actor to emote for once. Not bad. I saw the twist of Brooks being a traitor coming from a mile away, but I enjoyed shooting her at the end, as she continued talking poo poo.
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Feb 8, 2024 02:31
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A little bit less impressed tonight, I'm afraid. In Lightyear Frontier, you're a farmer in a mechsuit. That is pretty cool, but as CitizenKain describes, it otherwise just feels like a solid but unremarkable farming sim with optional co-op multiplayer, apart from the ability to add "in a mechsuit" to the end of every sentence... in a mechsuit.  Dungeonborne is a fantasy PvPvE dungeon crawler, which has been very popular during NextFest, but I heard a couple of people saying that it's just Dark and Darker but less refined and Steam-accessible. I haven't played Dark and Darker, so I've tried to judge the game on its own merits... and it feels incredibly clunky and unpleasant to play. Dungeonbore. Except this is apparently how these games are supposed to play, albeit with just a bit more tightening to the controls? I guess I recommend trying this out only for people who very specifically like the thing it's trying to imitate and for everybody else to stay far away.  Reus 2 is a sequel to the 2013 godgame Reus, which involved you using titans to put down various biomes/plants/animals/minerals to try and build combos for extremely efficient biospheres that could support large human populations and various megaprojects, while making sure that the humans didn't try to kill each other or your titans out of misplaced greed/aggression. It was fun as a sandbox, but after a certain point became really grindy if you were trying to get certain advanced tiers of development/achievements. Reus 2 is more of the same along those lines, but shaking up the subsystems and metaprogression in an attempt to try and make a better game. But after playing, I was left without a definitive sense as to whether all the changes made for solid improvement or not: maybe it's been a little too long since I played the original game to properly compare the two.  I'm not sure if Shadow of the Depth had a NextFest specific demo, or if I just ran into it during NextFest. Whatever, it's the one unqualified success of the night so I'll take it. Top-down dungeon crawling hack and slash roguelite. Definitely one of those games where the bosses seem way harder than the rest of the levels, so something to keep an eye out for if you're otherwise cruising through the demo without much difficulty. Not really much to say beyond that, but it's super-slick to play and I love the artstyle. Another one I'm keeping for future pl... Aw, who am I kidding, what time I'm not spent reviewing new demos this week is gonna be devoted to Helldivers 2. But it's the thought that counts, right? Jossar fucked around with this message at 03:04 on Feb 8, 2024 |
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Feb 8, 2024 02:57
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Hibbloes posted:Goon Steamers Much like a group of owls is a parliament, or a rhinos a crash, Goon Steamers often congregate in a Pile
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Feb 8, 2024 03:42
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Jossar posted:In Lightyear Frontier, you're a farmer in a mechsuit. That is pretty cool, but as CitizenKain describes, it otherwise just feels like a solid but unremarkable farming sim with optional co-op multiplayer, apart from the ability to add "in a mechsuit" to the end of every sentence... in a mechsuit. Yeah I had a go at this one as it had looked interesting and it's competent with a neat art style... But it's a very packed market, and needing to be in your mech for 90% of the gameplay of the demo plus long repedetive animations for using your gadgets and swapping between them... Will inevitably pick it up in a sale still but not looking like a day 1 purchase.
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Feb 8, 2024 03:43
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GrandpaPants posted:As someone who really liked Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, did Survivor unfuck its technical issues yet? it's very much playable if your pc is recent enough, but it still isn't the smoothest. it seems to be a fair improvement on how terrible launch performance was at least, at least on the lower settings. lih fucked around with this message at 04:11 on Feb 8, 2024 |
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Feb 8, 2024 04:07
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lih posted:it's very much playable if your pc is recent enough, but it still isn't the smoothest. it seems to be a fair improvement on how terrible launch performance was at least, at least on the lower settings. My laptop isn't good enough, apparently, since I just bought it and it won't stop crashing in the very beginning, when it even launches at all.
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Feb 8, 2024 04:29
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I kinda feel like content creators don't have much incentive to go back and revisit bad games from a year ago and see if they've improved. Hell, even year old anything. I was trying to dig up info about how ray tracing in Elden Ring performs on recent cards and couldn't find anything that dated past the week it came out.
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Feb 8, 2024 04:35
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Space Robot posted:My laptop isn't good enough, apparently, since I just bought it and it won't stop crashing in the very beginning, when it even launches at all. what are its specs, i wouldn't expect a laptop to be able to run it well unless it's a recent higher-end gaming laptop
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Feb 8, 2024 04:43
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here's some demos i played: Slave Zero X (45 minutes) - This is a prequel to a 1999 Dreamcast mech FPS by Infogrames. The prequel is, obviously, a 2.5D side-scrolling character action game with huge sprites that very much feels like a cross between a 2D fighting game and a beat-em up, including the parry system from Street Fighter III. Also, they made an hour-long Quake mod as a prequel to this new prequel, which you can play now inside the Steam version of Quake. Normal poo poo. I have no loving idea why this game exists but it's pretty cool. It's actually out in one week (I think this is a demo that long predates this Next Fest). The combat got kind of repetitive against regular enemies, but I really liked the boss fight, and the game oozes style. Immediately wishlisted the full game. Helskate (20 minutes) - Folks, you won't believe this, but yet another indie dev has taken a crack at a Tony Hawk clone and failed miserably to replicate its feel. I know, after Skatebird, you'd think everyone would have learned - and the one other indie game I know in this space, Ollie Frog Toad Skater, has actually felt awesome in every demo and I can't wait for it - but, alas, they kinda hosed this one up. It's also a weird game - it's a roguelike, and it has combat. Basically, mid-skate (including mid-combo), you can use the shoulder buttons to do sword attacks on enemies. But it also has THPS-style objectives - combos, collect SKATE, things of that nature. Oh, and run upgrades that do things like "launch a fireball when you do a pop shuv-it." It's not good! It feels kind of lovely, the camera is horrendous, it's surprisingly unfinished for a game launching in early access next week. But, hey, I'll keep an eye on it in case they pull it together. The demo does launch with a window saying "hey! This is still super work in progress, and we're working hard on the camera and controls," but that rings a little hollow if they're about to go into early access in this state. Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley (30 minutes) - I don't know who the hell Snufkin is, let alone what a Moomin is, but this game is a charming, melancholy little wander-around-doing-basic puzzles adventure. It did have a delightful surprise in an anti-authoritarian ethos that immediately has Snufkin loving with the police. Not sure the final game will really have much to it, but it's supposed to be out in the next few months, and I'll definitely pick it up if it's cheap. Also has music by Sigur Ros?? Tales of Kenzara: ZAU (50 minutes) - It's already been a big year for roguelikes between Momodora 5 and Prince of Persia The Lost Crown, and here's another one coming out in April. This feels very similar to The Lost Crown, which is a good thing. It's published by EA, and is by a new studio run by the actor who plays Basim in Assassin's Creed (who, of course, also voices the main character). At only $20, I assume this will be a much smaller game than The Lost Crown, which isn't a bad thing. The combat feels good and tight, the traversal feels solid though there's only a couple real challenges in the demo, the art looks great (really feels like "what if The Lost Crown didn't target 60fps on the Switch and instead had the full power of the Unreal Engine"), and the voice acting is, unsurprisingly, very good, even if the story doesn't really develop much in the demo. I was disappointed the demo didn't have a boss fight, but I pulled up the trailer and see a number of bosses with big health bars, so I look forward to seeing them in the final game. Immediately wishlisted this one, can't wait.
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Feb 8, 2024 04:46
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lih posted:what are its specs, i wouldn't expect a laptop to be able to run it unless it's a recent gaming laptop It's a 2 in 1 Dell Inspiron 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1165G7 32GB RAM. 'Looks like it's not going to work, so I might as well return it.  I don't have a PS5 nor XBox, so I guess I'll be waiting to play it for a while.
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Feb 8, 2024 04:48
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Space Robot posted:It's a 2 in 1 Dell Inspiron Are you saying it doesn’t have a dedicated GPU? It’s not gonna able to play most new higher budget games, at all or very well. It’ll struggle with a lot of older stuff too.
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Feb 8, 2024 04:51
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Also in my experience 2 in 1 Inspirons have horrible heat management, which makes them less than ideal for gaming whatever their internals.
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Feb 8, 2024 04:53
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abraham linksys posted:Helskate (20 minutes) - Folks, you won't believe this, but yet another indie dev has taken a crack at a Tony Hawk clone and failed miserably to replicate its feel. I know, after Skatebird, you'd think everyone would have learned - and the one other indie game I know in this space, Ollie Frog Toad Skater, has actually felt awesome in every demo and I can't wait for it - but, alas, they kinda hosed this one up. I'd try it out, but I didn't like Severed Steel, so don't really expect that I'd enjoy it independent of the game's quality.
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Feb 8, 2024 04:59
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Jossar posted:Hmm, maybe try out the demo for Echo Point Nova, if you haven't already? It's not quite the same thing, but it's by the Severed Steel devs and involves a lot of shooting people while grinding on a hoverboard. this appears to just be counter-strike surf so i am absolutely installing this demo right now
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Feb 8, 2024 05:04
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Space Robot posted:It's a 2 in 1 Dell Inspiron yeah i wouldn't expect something like that to be able to run any modern 3d games well or even at all. if you want to play current gen 3d games on a laptop you need a dedicated gaming laptop
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Feb 8, 2024 05:23
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abraham linksys posted:this appears to just be counter-strike surf so i am absolutely installing this demo right now counter strike surf and there's a grappling hook
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Feb 8, 2024 06:12
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Day Three of NextFest demo impressions:   Serum - MEH You've been infected and only have minutes to live. Search the ruined and hostile world you've awoken in to find out what's going on while experimenting with materials you find to build serums that can extend your life and, hopefully, cure it for good. Was kind of hoping for a Miasmata-esque experience with this, but apart from experimenting with serum crafting with materials you scavenge, and you having a constant ticking clock which requires planning for your expeditions, it didn't have much special to it that I could find, and just felt like a pretty basic survival-crafty game where you gather junk and smack/shoot Fallout-esque monsters with some limp-feeling combat. I couldn't tell for sure, but I think the radio man that guides you around is Geralt?    STAND-ALONE - OK Classic action roguelite where you, the last surviving robo-sheep, must fight against the wolves with your giant sword and customized abilities to get revenge and find out the truth behind the sudden purge of your kind. It's a decent mid-tier action roguelite, akin to something like Skul The Hero Slayer. Combat is decent and fun slashing and dodge-rolling, especially with the abilities which you can both customize for attack combos and passives, the boss fights had a good variety of moves and telegraphing, the story was kind of intriguing (though confusing, perhaps due to bad translation) so yeah, it's ok, but it's not necessarily something I'm chomping at the bit to recommend, especially with so many recent big entries in the same space like Astral Ascent, Oblivion Override, Blazblue Entropy, and so on. It is cute though playing as the little robo-sheep: just look at that last screenshot!    Berserk Boy - GOOD Classic 2D action platformer fun: go out and help rescue the resistance soldiers by blasting through them high-speed with your special berserk powers! Pretty fun game for people who enjoy something like Mega Man Zero: teleport from your home base to mission zones where you fight through enemies, save soldiers hidden down secret passages, and defeat the boss. Combat was pretty fun with you being able to dash-tackle in any direction towards an enemy, bouncing off of them while tagging them for a follow-up electric discharge which homes to all tagged enemies. I didn't get to experience the other elemental forms in the demo, only the base form, so I'm unsure how the gameplay will evolve. Dunno if I'd put it over games like Gravity Circuit in terms of feel and polish, but it's worth a look.    Star Trucker - WOW It's Euro Truck Simulator...in spaaaaaace! Between this and Pacific Drive, we've got two great road-trip games that I'm looking forward to. As said, it's like Euro Truck Simulator and Elite Dangerous had a baby, with a little bit of Hardspace Shipbreaker on the side. You've got all the chill vibes of riding your truck to a destination while listening to the radio and getting certified to carry more specialized loads and go to dangerous territory, but now you've got the very complicated sci-fi driving interface, tricky docking/unloading procedures, and lots of maintenance for your vessel to contend with, where you need to replace batteries, air filters, or even grab your suit and step out the airlock into space to fix hull breaches on your truck. I died one time by forgetting to put my suit on before opening the air lock, and another time when I was replacing a circuit board for my faulty A/C unit but forget to turn off the circuit breaker first, causing my entire truck to power down and freeze me to death. I love this game, and that it trusted me enough to let me mess up!     Lightyear Frontier - GOOD Land on an alien planet with your giant mech and scavenge for resources, clean up the environment, upgrade your mech, create a farm, and explore the left-over ruins. I'm not the best person to judge this as I'm not a huge farming guy, but I wanted to give it a shot. It's certainly got high production values and felt very smooth and pleasant, and I enjoyed the various activities and lumbering around with my mech. In general, the game gave me Slime Rancher crossed with Blaster Master vibes, if that makes sense. It's good, but I did get annoyed with the tiresome task of cleaning up slime hidden across this massive zone, the low inventory/weight limits, especially since you need to have materials on your mech to craft instead of the game just pulling from nearby storage boxes, and the animations for swapping tools were a bit annoyingly long (you can cancel them earlier than you'd think, but for some tools like hoses, it doesn't settle the aim until it's finished). As others more familiar with the genre have said, it's good and polished, but perhaps it doesn't do enough to spark joy? FutureCop fucked around with this message at 06:49 on Feb 8, 2024 |
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Feb 8, 2024 06:39
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FutureCop posted:Day Three of NextFest demo impressions: Justin Timberlake's Serum
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Feb 8, 2024 06:40
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Mordja posted:Oh yeah, couple of nextfest RTS demos that I personally haven't played this go around but were pretty well-made in the past: Godsworn and Global Conflagration. Ooooooh, thank you for pointing these out. Global Conflag keeps crashing on my machine, but I played quick match of Godsworn and it seemed fun enough. The AoE2 remasters really hate my machine so I'm glad to have something that scratches that itch and actually runs, I hope the single player campaign is meaty, wishlisted for sure! Also props to them for having a 'potato' button in the gfx options, hearty lol but it really does help when trying to click menu buttons at .5fps to lower settings.
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Feb 8, 2024 07:01
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abraham linksys posted:
Yep, that’s moomin all right
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Feb 8, 2024 07:29
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Megaman Humble Bundle: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/mega-man-franchise-pack
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Feb 8, 2024 08:04
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the demo for Ultros is the sickest poo poo I've ever seen, and somehow this game is out in 5 days. it's a metroidvania with ok movement and combat but, more importantly, the wildest environment i've seen in a video game. everyone go play this, it looks incredible: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2386310/Ultros/ 2024 the year of the metroidvania. i've still got like 4 more metroidvania demos to play too abraham linksys fucked around with this message at 08:11 on Feb 8, 2024 |
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Feb 8, 2024 08:08
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abraham linksys posted:the demo for Ultros is the sickest poo poo I've ever seen, and somehow this game is out in 5 days. it's a metroidvania with ok movement and combat but, more importantly, the wildest environment i've seen in a video game. everyone go play this, it looks incredible: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2386310/Ultros/ I downloaded these MV demos to try as well (at least I assume they're MV, but who knows, the tag is too liberally applied): Alruna and the Necro-Industrialists, Eden's Guardian, Emberbane, Magical Delicacy, Mark of the Deep, Awita, Mendacium
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Feb 8, 2024 08:22
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If you like your survival crafting games then I definitely think Abiotic Factor could have some legs from what I’ve played so far. Though it also feels like a game that expects you to play in co-op. There’s a lot of stuff to pick up and your inventory space is extremely limited. There’s a lot of crafting recipes and you need skills at different levels to make them. Someone might need to make things while others go out to find things. For some idea of a reference I can happily and easily play something like 7 Days to Die or Valheim solo and never feel as limited as I did by myself in Abiotic Factor.
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Feb 8, 2024 08:40
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Sword of Convallaria is a pretty snazzy FFT-like game, but what stood out to me was when a character pronounced the name Faycal in Japanese. Trust me, you'll know it when you hear it.
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Feb 8, 2024 09:05
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abraham linksys posted:the demo for Ultros is the sickest poo poo I've ever seen, and somehow this game is out in 5 days. it's a metroidvania with ok movement and combat but, more importantly, the wildest environment i've seen in a video game. everyone go play this, it looks incredible: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2386310/Ultros/ The art style reminds me of https://elhuervo.bandcamp.com/album/a-thing-with-feathers (El Huervo appeared on the soundtrack for Hotline Miami or SteamWorld Dig 2).
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Feb 8, 2024 09:20
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abraham linksys posted:Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley (30 minutes) - I don't know who the hell Snufkin is, let alone what a Moomin is, but this game is a charming, melancholy little wander-around-doing-basic puzzles adventure. It did have a delightful surprise in an anti-authoritarian ethos that immediately has Snufkin loving with the police. Not sure the final game will really have much to it, but it's supposed to be out in the next few months, and I'll definitely pick it up if it's cheap. Also has music by Sigur Ros?? Fun fact, Snufkin was based on Atos Wirtanen, a socialist politician.
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Feb 8, 2024 09:45
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More next fest demos  LumineNight An attractive looking Ace Attorney style game from Korea. Unfortunately, it has stealth sections that suck and the translation is serviceable but not fluid. Verdict:Not Wishlisted   The Posthumous Investigation Brazilian detective mystery with a stiff English translation. Didn't grab me and there's was intimations of a real time ticking clock time limit which I didn't appreciate. Verdict:Not Wishlisted   Neoproxima French combo of Outer Wilds and Disco Elysium but feels most like In Other Waters. From the short demo it doesn't quite pull it off, but there's potential here. Verdict: I'll keep an eye out for positive notes when it releases.
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Feb 8, 2024 09:50
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AfricanBootyShine posted:Fun fact, Snufkin was based on Atos Wirtanen, a socialist politician. He hates Park Wardens and loves tobacco and sleeping outdoors, a true hobo King
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Feb 8, 2024 09:54
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sebmojo posted:He hates Park Wardens and loves tobacco and sleeping outdoors, a true hobo King The Moomin/Disco Elysium crossover we've all been waiting for
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Feb 8, 2024 10:29
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The 7th Guest posted:yea this year looks a bit better than last year for MVs (which only had a couple of standout games). Ultros, PoP, Crypt Custodian, Tales of Kenzera ZAU, possibly Gestalt Steam & Cinder, Moonlight Pulse, Genopanic, Dewdrop Dynasty, Exophobia, Rebel Transmute... and silksong
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Feb 8, 2024 11:02
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Pacific Drive is a lot to take in with like twenty tabs crowding every section of the UI and it's got one of those scavenging/crafting loops, but putting the lion's share of resource management into a hundred different ways your car can get hosed up is a really novel spin on things -- even if it is a bit goddamn silly the rate at which they occur. Within the first area I had two flat tires, two loose tires (leading to one of them falling off completely mid-drive), one tire wore its treads off completely somehow, and there was a period where for about five minutes my driver-side door absolutely would not close despite not having anything listed as wrong with it. So I ripped the door off and swapped it with a different one, and it STILL wouldn't close.  All in all, had me hooked. Shot right up my wishlist, might actually be a day one buy for me.
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Feb 8, 2024 11:04
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Pacific Drive, Jalopy, My Summer Car, The Long Drive... I think I like this genre
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Feb 8, 2024 11:07
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abraham linksys posted:Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley (30 minutes) - I don't know who the hell Snufkin is, let alone what a Moomin is, but this game is a charming, melancholy little wander-around-doing-basic puzzles adventure. It did have a delightful surprise in an anti-authoritarian ethos that immediately has Snufkin loving with the police. Not sure the final game will really have much to it, but it's supposed to be out in the next few months, and I'll definitely pick it up if it's cheap. Also has music by Sigur Ros?? Moomins are great and it's good to know a game adaption stays true to its source. Having Sigur Ros collaborate on the music makes sense to me, Moomins are popular in the nordics (and Japan, of course).
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Feb 8, 2024 11:46
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9 demos: Emberbane doesn't quite have it. The look of the game is okay, I like the fluid animations of the character's attacks... but the actual combat just feels bad. There's a weird input lag to attacks that isn't applied to the jumping (but IS annoyingly applied to the air dash and caused me to gently caress that up multiple times). Also hitting enemies bounces you away from them and that's kind of annoying too. Estimated Release Date: 2024  Now we're talkin'. Tales of Kenzera: ZAU has the look and feel of a proper high-end indie release thanks to Electronic Arts publishing/funding the game. I'm sure it and Prince of Persia will be compared back and forth all year, and then the two of them will somehow end up in Best Indie Game, to the infuriation of every indie dev just trying to find a decent publisher that won't go belly up in a year. I like how the combat works, where you switch back and forth between Moon/Sun as one overheats... kind of like Ghost Song actually. This is a bit more linear of a game, however, so it's on the margins as far as being an actual Metroidvania goes. Still I think it's pretty good. A note to Deck owners, you'll want to dial down the graphical settings to get this to run at a smooth 60fps. Something I adjusted was the perfect fix and made it run smooth as butter, but I'm not sure what specifically. I had most settings turned to medium and then shadows to low. Estimated Release Date: April 23rd  The vibes in Ultros are immaculate (and also, this Next Fest in general is killing it with vibey games). I love love love this look, and the music is great too (although kind of incongruent? I expected something more fitting of the time period this art style hit its peak, rather than dramatic Soulsy music). The hunger system is interesting, and how you gain abilities by eating to build up certain inscrutable meters. If it wasn't for my assumption that this game is more in the range of a 6-7 hour game than a 20 hour game (with a $25 price tag that might scare some people off), I'd say this could be The Next Hollow Knight. Estimated Release Date: Tuesday  After coming off of Ultros, I knew the next Metroidvania (and/or Soulslike) demo I played wouldn't be as good, but Mendacium is actually still decent. It's more direct of a Hollow Knight clone, but without copying its aesthetic like certain other games (Deviator....). You're a lil reptile with a spear and a bow. The weapon switching system is interesting and won't be to everyone's taste... you hit four times with the spear and then automatically switch to the bow, and then after 4-5 arrow shots, you switch back to the spear. You can't switch your weapon any other way. So you go in close, stab stab stab, then back away, arrow arrow arrow. I think there's a certain fluidity that works here but, again, some people won't like that. I thought it was interesting how the menus tell you what a viable enemy level is for you to be fighting at your current level. Might not be a day one purchase but something I look at in a future Fanatical build-a-bundle. Estimated Release Date: TBA  One more Metroidvania and then we'll move on to linear platformers. Alruna and the Necro-Industrialists has a nice Famicom look to it, but it feels clunky to play currently. Hitbox could be more generous, and the slide input doesn't work 3/4s of the time. Just ended up getting frustrated. Disheartening was a Steam forum thread where the developer looked at all the feedback people were giving and just went (to paraphrase) "yeah well I made it that way on purpose". Okay? You made the slide not work most of the time on purpose? Seems weird but you do you. But count me out. Estimated Release Date: Q2 2024  To start off with the linear platformers, this one's just, not so good. Gift is a Limbo-like, and, with that genre glutted at this point, I need the jumping to feel good for me to get into it. And the jumping does not feel good. It's sloppy and janky, with a slow landing animation that slides, and a climbing animation that seems to sometimes not really grab onto surfaces. I'm getting tired of this subgenre anyway, it's in need of a serious shakeup. Estimated Release Date: May 8th  Toree became a little bit of an indie hit by pricing itself at just $3 and being a quick one-hour snack (along with its similarly sized and priced sequel). For the third game in the trilogy, Toree Saturn, you get a double jump, a ground pound and a Sonic Adventure-style homing attack... although you actually can't hurt enemies with any of these, it's just to facilitate going fast and reaching platforms. I think the stars that you homing attack could use a little shadow underneath them, I sometimes hit the homing attack right as I was passing through the star and fell to my death. I also personally think this series is maybe spinning its wheels a bit, without more design evolution or level detail it's starting to get eclipsed by other cheap 3D platformers like Lunistice. Estimated Release Date: 2024  I took a chance on this one because it looked kind of odd and the color/detail in screenshots is a bit more brutal than playing it in motion, and yeah, it looks and feels better in-game. Telebbit is a twitchy puzzle platformer where you have teleportation powers which you can aim at both walls, ceilings and enemies. It's kind of basic in its level design but still kinda cool. You'll need to chain multiple teleports in one jump sometimes, or place a remote teleportation beacon and then jump while teleporting to preserve your momentum. Could be pretty good if the challenges get more and more demanding and intense. Needs a better localization however. Estimated Release Date: TBA  Yeah, Pepper Grinder is good. My year-end lists always tend to have a 2D platformer somewhere in the top 10 and this could be the one this year. I'm a sucker for Nintendo-style level design and the "hidden green stars" collectables. This one's got a bit more of an edge to it than other recent Nintendo-style platformers like Grapple Dog. The title screen just needs the "SEGA!!!" scream to feel complete. I like burrowing around, it feels kind of like if Ecco the Dolphin decided "gently caress the ocean, I'm gonna live inside dirt". As always with Nintendo-style 2D platformers (i'll need to come up with a better term for this, and no, Mario-like will not do), the variety showcased from level to level, world to world, will really determine how good the game is. But it's off to a good start so far. Estimated Release Date: 2024 I tried the Mark of the Deep demo but it doesn't work on Steam Deck (asks for Windows dependencies), that'll maybe be a laptop demo later this week. Wishlisted: Tales of Kenzera: ZAU, Ultros, Telebbit, Pepper Grinder Not Wishlisted: Emberbane, Gift, Alruna and the Necro-Industrialists, Toree Saturn, Mendacium (but I do think this one's decent) Up Next: Tokyo Psychodemic, Bore Blasters, Eden's Guardian, Holstin, Hollowbody, Until Then, Terra Memoria, They Speak From the Abyss: Zenith The 7th Guest fucked around with this message at 11:56 on Feb 8, 2024 |
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Feb 8, 2024 11:46
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   https://store.steampowered.com/app/2277090/DAEMON_MASQUERADE/ An anime-inspired supernatural detective game. Uncover the identities and powers of your adversaries using a conspiracy board full of evidence. This is supposed to be a Golden Idol-like, I think, made in RenPy. The demo has a cool surreal vibe with you being a test subject in some strange experiment, but it ends rather abruptly before it shows off any real gameplay. Still, it was neat and the screenshots look promising so I'll wishlist and hope the creator delivers.
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Feb 8, 2024 11:54
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I've had the opposite experience to everyone else with Ultros I guess. The game looks great visually I can't deny that, but the writing is very bad and I hated it very much. With the psychedelic theme I expected more subtlety or weirdness but I can't describe the actual writing without feeling like I'm being mean to someone at their first job. I was also not impressed by the combat and unless it materially changes further on I couldn't do an entire game of it, and had a bug on the boss that made me think I had to backtrack (door did not open). I'm glad other people are enjoying it though!
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Feb 8, 2024 14:00
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The 7th Guest posted:yea this year looks a bit better than last year for MVs (which only had a couple of standout games). Ultros, PoP, Crypt Custodian, Tales of Kenzera ZAU, possibly Gestalt Steam & Cinder, Moonlight Pulse, Genopanic, Dewdrop Dynasty, Exophobia, Rebel Transmute... Red Candle's also aiming to release Nine Sols in Q1 this year, which is one I'm really looking forward to. The 7th Guest posted:
Seeing this made me think "wait, what happened to Wuppo Breft Festival Forever"?Turns out it had a failed Kickstarter back in 2021 and while they never said they were giving up on it, well, they apparently made a completely different game instead, so. A bit of a bummer because I love Wuppo's world but very glad to see the devs didn't just quietly disappear!
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Feb 8, 2024 14:18
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