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Hello thread! I've been slowly making my way through the last ~250-ish pages of this thread and because of the pandemic have been playing a poo poo-ton of old shooty-man games, * for ones i'm playing for the first time and † for one i have some commentary on: FINISHED:
Started but haven't finished
Planning to play:
Currently playing: Arcane Dimensions† ------------------ Commentaries Going Down : Unbelievably creative and tough as nails, probably the best WAD i've ever played. There's really nothing else like it. The music can grate after a while, but the combat encounters are unparalleled, imo. Mouth of Madness, Gladiator, Black Mass, and Insanity are all highlights. Copper/Underdark Overbright : I never want to play vanilla Quake without Copper again. The changes are so small but make the overall experience much better. I've mostly overlooked Quake in favour of Doom, although I played it way back when it was new, but I forgot just how good it feels to grenade-duel with Ogres with 3 HP left  . Underdark Overbright is just the right length and I found gorgeous and super enjoyable; I'd recommend it to anyone dipping their toes into Quake custom content. Pit of the Living Dead (Map 04, i think?) is absolutely great.Prey (2006): Holds up remarkably well. The level design is super cool, but the weapon variety leaves a bit to be desired, and takes itself a bit too seriously, but I think i like it better now then I did when it was new. The vehicle sections weren't as bad as I remember but they certainly aren't memorable either. Dusk: Absolutely incredible, i was hooked from E1M1. Both the movement and the weapons feel amazing and the set pieces are very memorable. The game is so good that it sort of reignited my taste for FPSes and inspired me to play most of what on the list. The first appearance of the Wendigo is one of my favourite gaming moments in recent memory, also Erebus Reactor rules. Amid Evil: Not as good as Dusk but I still loved it. The monsters are a bit uninspired, but the colours and level design provide the correct kind of sparklies to make the dopamine in my brain go pop and the weapons are surprisingly meaty and satisfying. Definitely doesn't have the same kind of memorable set pieces as Dusk, but the levels and their arenas are all well designed. It sort of all smears together in a psychedelic colourful otherworld dreamscape and honestly, I think that's still pretty cool. Doom 64: This thread has kind of a high opinion of it but i found it just as bland and boring as I did back when it was new. The new sprites look awful, like a bad TC, and the new sounds don't do anything for me. Admittedly, that might just be because my brain is so wired for the originals that anything else feels odd and wrong though. The Aubrey Hodges music is admittedly fantastic though, although the tracks from Doom PSX are higher quality. Duke Nukem 3D: I replayed the first episode of Duke 3D (which most people say is the best, i think) and maybe i'm admitting this to myself as the same time as i admit it to all of you, but it's time to come clean... I hate Duke Nukem 3D. I don't think it's fun at all, and frankly it makes me tired to play it. Actually, other than Blood, which is top notch, i could really do without Build engine games in general. (haven't touched Ion Fury, but i'm not aching to, either). Arcane Dimensions: Each one of these maps is basically like its own entire game, but i'm enjoying the hell out of them. The new monster varieties really help spice up combat (aside from the gargoyles, they can get hosed). I have never really cared for techbase style Quake maps and there are mercifully few. Grendel's Blade and Foggy Bogbottom have been big highlights. While the larger levels might not be for everybody, I absolutely adore the intricate and shortcut-laden quasi-Dark Souls/Bloodborne style of lots of the maps; they feel like little puzzle boxes to figure out. What else should I be looking at for my upcoming games list? Can be new or old. In a moment of weakness I almost bought Daikatana on GOG, but came to my senses at the last minute. edit: also furry shambler for life, i don't care what they say
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Feb 6, 2021 17:52
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Squeezy Farm posted:agreed. boring boxy levels with few landmarks filled with mystery switches and key hunts. i'm halfway through and not sure i'll be able to finish it since it's so dull. I'll probably finish it eventually, but i stopped right after the Dead Simple knockoff, i think. Even if it's not really for me, i'd be really curious to see how the Doom modding scene would have evolved differently if the 64 code had been GPLed alongside the PC codebase.
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Feb 6, 2021 19:16
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Heavy Metal posted:F.E.A.R. (the first one mainly), No One Lives Forever (is available for free download), and Serious Sam (any iteration). FEAR owns. I played a bit of that indie game tribute to it that came out last year (Trepanation or something?) and it brought back some good nostalgia, though I always thought the horror elements of FEAR sorta broke the pacing. I thought NOLF was in some kind of licensing hell? Or is it a strictly  type situation? I'd love to revisit it (i think i last played it on a Pentium 3)Castor Poe posted:Sin Gold I've never actually finished SIN but I own it a CD copy of it from back in the day. It's a shame Half-Life completely ate its lunch because I remember it being pretty unique and innovative for the time. Are Painkiller and Painkiller: Black the same? I have it wishlisted on GOG waiting for a sale but I've never played any of the series. I've played Serious Sam TFE but I've never touched TSE, except for playing the demo from a demo disk a million years ago
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Feb 6, 2021 22:10
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Narcissus1916 posted:Oh poo poo yeah! I played that a few years ago and the Aliens TC STILL holds up. Oh yeah! I played through ~6 ish levels of Pirate Doom and I found it super charming, I have to get back to that one as well! The nostalgia factor is ridiculous, especially the Melee Island stage. They absolutely nailed the color palette. My username comes from Monkey Island so I'm a sucker for that kinda thing.. I got to the stage with the frenzied inter-ship cannon battle but had some kind of GZDoom fuckery that made all the smoke effects 100% opaque, so it was basically impossible to hit anything. Narcissus1916 posted:Dark Forces Putting all of these on the list! I loved Dark Forces when I was a kid (although I found the maps ridiculously labyrinthine) and it was the first game I remember downloading a mod for (sprite replacement that turned the fists into a lightsaber instead, of course). Especially with that mouselook hack i saw posted in the thread somewhere, because i'm not holding my breath for DarkXL/Force Engine anytime soon 
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Feb 7, 2021 02:12
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Guillermus posted:Control is one of my four platinums on PS4 and combat is great but you have to abuse certain AI patterns. Flying enemies will dodge throw once, not twice since they have a cooldown on dodge (same goes for Tomasi). Once you get a bunch of powers is a matter of rotating them and of course using pierce quite a bit. I played through Control on base PS4 and thought it rocked, i wound up re-buying it on PC to play it at 60 fps and while "testing" the game after downloading it I wound up playing it for like three hours. It's a great example of how any game really just needs an exceptionally enjoyable ~30 second combat loop and encounters designed around putting pressure on the player in various ways to be fun as gently caress.
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Feb 8, 2021 01:09
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Shoehead posted:Yeah OK guys but how do we all feel about Doom 3's shotgun? not as good as the Quake shotgun, tbh. all joking aside; replayed BFG edition last year and was stunned how bad *all* of the weapons felt like garbage except for the plasma rifle, which owns
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Apr 4, 2021 03:59
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Al Cu Ad Solte posted:What FPS has the best gunfire, reload, and general foley sound effects? Quake 2 has really beefy sounding shotguns even if they're not great in practice, and the railgun sound is an all timer. shame about the rest of the game though RTCW has some great sounds and reload animations for its time but lacks a shotgun entirely which is inexcusable
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Apr 4, 2021 12:25
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i burnt out a little bit on games in general a couple of months ago but have reintroduced Doom into my life. Finally got around to playing PSX Doom via the GEC Master Edition and actually really enjoyed it. Because it has so many similarities to Doom 64 it's made me realize that what i don't really like about 64 are the ugly prerendered sprites, everything else (lighting, pace, sounds+music) is alright. Also some really strange changes from the original (obviously for hardware limitations, i'd bet; for example the PSX version of The Crusher's iconic main room is about 15 feet high. also they nerfed the poo poo out of the Revenant, i guess regular speed spooky skelemen would have been overwhelming on a psx controller. I also finished No Rest for the Living in one sitting a couple of nights ago and had a blast. It's a bit monochromatic in its designs but i enjoyed it a lot more than I thought i would, especially map04: Hell mountain and map05: Vivisection. Of the commercially released wads i think i only have Master Levels left, and, uhhh, no thanks. Now i've jumped back in to Ancient Aliens and it's slaughtering me. But it's so creative and the music rocks so i keep coming back for more. Up on the "started but haven't finished" FPS pile when i'm done are: - HL1 (hit a wall somewhere in Forget about Freeman) - Wolfenstein: The New Order (stopped somewhere in Eisenwald) - Arcane Dimensions (don't remember where i stopped, 10-12 maps in i think) - Comedy option: learn Trenchbroom and start making maps
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Apr 17, 2021 04:53
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Weedle posted:the marine campaign especially creates an incredible atmosphere for such an old game. exploring the deserted colony in the dark, pouring rain creates such a strong sensation of “i really really do not want to be here” The first level in particular is still so memorable for me. Just steadily ramping the tension without a single enemy. I'm afraid to revisit it because i don't know how well it'll hold up, but i remember loving it.
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Apr 17, 2021 04:57
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Tim Thomas posted:we all just want someone to talk to, after all
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May 29, 2021 03:13
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started playing quake 2 today it's worse than i remember
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May 29, 2021 03:15
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david_a posted:What’s the best idtech 4 game? Prey? The Dark Mod? Prey owns and is super underrated. The vehicle sections kinda stink though
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May 31, 2021 04:33
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https://youtube.com/watch?v=SsmpSyW57zQ Dean of Doom reviews Scythe 2
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Jun 1, 2021 05:39
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koren posted:
Played through these today! Levels look great and the weapon tweaks are a nice change, though both maps are quite short. I also just finished Alkaline, and i'm a little meh on the maps, though Foundation for Corruption and Dancing in the Golden Sun were a big highlight. Overly techbase heavy, though. The added enemies are nice for some variety, but some of them (the shielded enforcer, ugh) get annoying fast. I also recently played through Dwell Episode 1 which was great (aside from D1M7 which i found to be kind of a slog); the secret map D1M9 was a real exploration map which I really enjoyed
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Jul 2, 2021 04:05
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Groovelord Neato posted:Third person shooters should be illegal. this is true except for RE4
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Aug 26, 2021 18:01
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shoeberto posted:Anyone got any word on when GoG is gonna get the Quake update? i'm also waiting on this
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Sep 5, 2021 00:40
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if you find your Doom experience to be not adequately *definitive*, a new GTA inspired mod has dropped: https://twitter.com/nashmuhandes/status/1460625772675096582?s=21
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Nov 17, 2021 05:25
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"Wow, shooting waves of unbearable mutant alien monkeys sure is a Far Cry from how this island getaway began"
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Nov 19, 2021 06:08
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https://twitter.com/rottenfemur/status/1470098623719485444?s=21
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Dec 13, 2021 20:59
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https://youtube.com/watch?v=QGc-iPc-9dE&t=7s
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Dec 15, 2021 02:31
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Grimthwacker posted:God, Blood has one hell of a learning curve. Fresh Supply's "Made to Order" difficulty helps alleviate that somewhat (I have Cultist accuracy on Low for starters), but it's very much its own beast and forces you to get used to its weapons and mechanics, [i]quickly[i]. Only three maps into Episode 1 and it's been a painful lesson so far. it doesn't help that Episode 1 is probably the hardest episode of the game either. Also crouching makes you take fewer shots from cultists
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Jan 4, 2022 00:05
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https://twitter.com/agentstrangetv/status/1479944118105251847?s=21
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Jan 9, 2022 02:57
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koren posted:All the deus ex sounds are wonderful. 
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Apr 1, 2022 03:39
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skasion posted:Knee deep in the DMs 
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Apr 21, 2022 10:49
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FEAR collection is 8$ on Steam I've played the first and love it. Any of the latter two games worth a shot?
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Jun 26, 2022 20:24
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ExcessBLarg! posted:Definitely play it through, I think it has some of Romero's best work in E4M1, E4M2, and especially E4M6. E4M1 is American McGee but it does indeed own e: f; b to add some actual content; after E4, skip TNT and the Master Levels, but absolutely play Plutonia (with PLUTMIDI.WAD) though Voodoo Cafe fucked around with this message at 19:20 on Aug 7, 2022 |
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Aug 7, 2022 19:13
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third person shooters are fine, cover shooters are bad dead space, re4, all of remedy's games, essentially all of the GTAs + RDR, MDK, the recent RE remakes. All great also hedon owns
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Aug 26, 2022 15:00
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haveblue posted:I remember me and a high school friend getting really psyched when MDK was shown on The X-Files, because that’s just how loving 90s it was back then MDK and the first 5 seasons of the X-Files are some the acme of 90s achievements in my eyes. Nightdive, MDK remaster when? (who owns MDK anyways?) edit: oh dear god it's Amazon
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Aug 26, 2022 21:41
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Cracking my knuckles before my yearly effortpost... Some of the demos I've played recently, Realms Deep or otherwise. Fortune's Run Overall: STRONGLY RECOMMENDED Really liked this demo, seems fairly polished as well. Looks fantastic in motion. Has some definite imsim influences that it wears on its sleeve, but the stealth system seems a bit half baked. I thought that picking up ammo could stand to be a little bit streamlined, but I really thought the world and characters were cool, the whole thing has a very Nar Shaddaa vibe. Strong recommend but it is very difficult, i was quicksaving and quickloading like a fiend to get through it on their 'recommended' difficulty. ---- COVEN Overall: STRONGLY RECOMMENDED Fantastic, atmosphere is top notch. The melee is OP as hell but feels absolutely amazing to axe dudes to pieces. If you liked DUSK at all then you absolutely owe it to yourself to try this, the influence is shameless but appreciated, very similar creeping horror vibes. ---- The Age of Hell Overall: NOT FOR ME GZDoom based project but leans heavily into the slaughtermap territory (first map has upwards of 800+ monsters, possibly more, I decided I'd had enough after that point anyway. The art and the music are quite impressive but the weapons don't feel great, and it runs like an absolute dog, stuttering and dropping frames on a 5600X+2080. (I figured maybe this was a WINE thing, but it seems like i'm not the only one.) Surprising, because other huge GZDoom projects like Supplice and Selaco both ran excellently for me (which both have excellent demos that you should play immediately if you haven't) ---- KVLT Overall: FEELS LIKE AN ASSET FLIP Pretty rough. Typos, bugs, weird collision issues, the 'music' is just a repeating drone note that doesn't loop properly. I like the spinal column shotgun. ---- Retchid Overall: TRY IT Better than I expected it would be! Heavily Doom3 influenced. Not super polished yet, enemy designs and animations are a little so-so, but I had a fun time with it. Already in the demo probably has more onscreen enemies than most Doom3 levels, so feels a bit more frenetic. ==== Some of FPS games i've played over the last year Daikatana Overall: HEAR ME OUT Episode 1 is every bit as bad as you expect it would be. It is really, genuinely, just complete crap, and I don't blame anyone for never making it past the first level (let alone the first episode). Horrible levels, weapons that will kill you in 50%+ of situations, eye-searing lighting, and some of the worst audio mixing I've ever experienced. BUT With the 1.3 patch, and companions with infinite ammo, I actually had quite a bit of fun with it. Would probably be much more fun in co-op, which I'd imagine is what Ion Storm were expecting more people to play than actually did. The levels and combat in episodes 2-4 are better in essentially every way. Movement is crazily fast and feels ultra smooth. The Daikatana itself is stupidly overpowered. Some of the music is pretty good as well. The VO for Mikiko is horrific (but I guess that's the 90s for you). ---- Red Faction Overall: MUCH BETTER THAN I EXPECTED I'd played the demo of this and the full game briefly on the Playstation 2, and never really went beyond that, but I thought it was actually tons of fun. The infamous stealth levels are boring but not very long, and the game mostly forgets about Geo-Mod after the first couple of levels, but the shooting feels great and the graphics held up better than I expected. Solid recommendation if you've never played it before. ---- Unreal Gold Overall: GOOD, NOT GREAT Definitely shows its rushed-ness in the later levels, some of which go on a bit too long. Music is still god-tier, as are the first couple of levels. The atmosphere is great throughout and really does sell you on this being a very alien world. There are more than a few places that could use more obvious signposting as it suffers from not knowing what the switch you just pressed has affected. Fighting Skaarj still feels great, but the weapons don't feel like they hit very hard, even compared to its contemporaries like Quake II. Some of this is the general sci-fi pewpew of the weapons, but many of the enemies seem to not really have any pain state so it feels like you're not hitting them sometimes. I'm much more familiar with the later UT99 versions of the weapons, which are all leagues better, so I wonder how it'd feel with those weapons modded in. ---- FEAR Overall: ONE OF THE BEST FPS GAMES EVER MADE Just phenomenal. I originally played this on a pretty anemic machine for the time and struggled through it at like 640x480 at 25 FPS, but playing through it at 1440p and 144FPS is incredible. The Alma segments are boring and not scary, but they're usually only 5-15 seconds, not long drawn out cutscenes. The combat is just incredible, enemy AI still feels like it's doing its best to constantly outpace you, and the game looks unbelievably good for coming out in 2005. I'm now going through Extraction Point for the first time and it's also been really enjoyable, though Fettel coming back to life is pretty unexplained and hackneyed, but who cares. ---- Condemned: Criminal Origins Overall: FEAR'S ACTUALLY SCARY COUSIN I'd never gotten around to this one (and it's debatable that it's even a shooter) but it also holds up really well. The environments are spooky and oppressive, and (like FEAR) the enemy AI is surprisingly adaptable and can outplay you if you're not being careful. The rhythm, weight, and brutality of the combat all still feel top notch, and if you're playing it in a dark room it might actually legitimately scare you, unlike its shootier cousin. ==== Others I've played in the past ~year that I don't have much to say about, but can expand if desired
==== On my list to play next † if it's a replay
now back to lurking. Voodoo Cafe fucked around with this message at 03:37 on Sep 19, 2022 |
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Sep 19, 2022 03:31
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SeANMcBAY posted:It’s weird it didn’t get a pc port. I remember it did have its moments but I remember not liking it nearly as much or thinking it was as scary. I enjoyed the first one enough that I found an Xbox 360 copy of the sequel and tried it for 5 minutes with Xenia, which works fine on Windows, but not on Linux so i haven't gone further. Eventually i'll get around to playing it. But even the intro cinematic veers HARD into mid 2000s edgelord territory. I think Condemned 2, The Darkness, and Prince of Persia: Warrior Within form the pillars of the "jet-black soul patch" genre of that era.
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Sep 19, 2022 05:04
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david_a posted:Maybe you’re already aware, but this is possible. There’s a mod where you can play Unreal 1 in UT99. I don’t remember how it handles the weapons that are different but I seem to recall it was pretty configurable. I was vaguely aware you could do it but I've never tried it! Though i wonder about balance, neither the upgraded Dispersion Pistol or the Tarydium Stinger have a 1-1 correspondence in UT and both are pretty solid workhorses, especially in the early game
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Sep 19, 2022 13:46
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bought and played CULTIC through in a single sitting, it owns. Can't wait for episode 2. It definitely goes a bit easy on you so i'd suggest most people with any shooter experience play on hard though. It's like if you cross RE4 with Blood, and anyone who doesn't find that appealing should reconsider their life choices. At 10$ it's a no brainer, buy it immediately!! I also played the demo for DISDAIN which I liked enough to put on a wish list. The GZDoom 3d models are charming when they're not trying to emulate Doom's art style, and the guns are like if the shotguns in Quake didn't suck. Next up is Prodeus I think, but the thread seems pretty ambivalent on it so maybe i'll wait
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Oct 15, 2022 21:00
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Deakul posted:Dude holy crap, I really hope no one is sleeping on DISDAIN, that moment in the demo when you get the rocket launcher literally launched me like 20+ years back in time! I posted about it a few pages back but i loved the demo as well! about half Quake half Doom in vibe and aesthetic which is chefs kiss. Looking forward to the full version
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Oct 25, 2022 23:45
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Someone has modded the Blood cultist voices into Cultic: https://youtu.be/nnIwpUihbpM
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Oct 31, 2022 12:50
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So i finally tracked down and played Wolfenstein (2009) and it was surprised how much I enjoyed it! It's a bit short and the boss fights aren't great, but it was considerably better than i expected given its reputation. It makes some weird decisions (all voices in English, default FOV super cramped) but it was very easy to fix up with community patches. I don't know what kind of slapfight Zenimax and Activision got in to result in it being pulled from all the digital storefronts, but it's worthwhile playing if you get the opportunity. Physical copies are getting more expensive but it's not hard to find elsewhere, which i have no qualms about if i can't buy it. Also surprised to see it was running on idTech 4, it looks barely recognizable. Speaking of idTech4, I also played Doom 3 Phobos recently and really enjoyed it. The production values are quite good (even the voice acting!) and the modified combat is substantially more fun and challenging than the base game. I don't know exactly how I feel about the the odd Life is Strange-style flashback narrative device, but it's definitely very ambitious and I respect them for doing something completely out of left field. There's one later level with a bit of platform hopping that i found dragged on excessively, but otherwise I had a great time with it and would heartily recommend. The first two episodes are available and the team is apparently presently working on the third.
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Nov 28, 2022 05:48
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Severed Steel is free today on EGS. Haven't tried it yet but I know it's gotten a few mentions in this thread https://youtu.be/eOL3KfbiMIE
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Dec 27, 2022 18:07
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Barudak posted:Folks, I'm jonesing to play some KISS: Pyscho Circus. I don't know why, I think I should probably lie down and let this feeling pass. As someone who has recently attempted this i would strongly advise against it i was trying to play both KPC and Klingon Honor Guard concurrently earlier this year, and if that had been my intro to FPS games when i was younger, i probably would have sworn off gaming entirely
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Feb 20, 2023 18:53
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Tim Thomas posted:What's the correct answer for "what sourceport do I play alkaline on" vkQuake is my go to. I've found it to perform better than QuakeSpasm-Spiked on big/detailed maps
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Mar 6, 2023 05:31
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https://twitter.com/depthsofwiki/status/1633635040906162176
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Mar 15, 2023 00:45
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Mordja posted:I'm sorry are we calling Q2's weaponfeel good now? both shotguns feel great and the railgun is S tier. while the rest aren't great they still have more impact than most of the Unreal arsenal, where you can fire 4 rockets at a Skaarj and they lift slightly off the ground and remain unharmed and don't even flinch
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Mar 16, 2023 12:17
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