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Continuing from my surprisingly pleasant return to Dungeon Siege III, I gave another ARPG I left behind previously a revisit: Shadows Awakening. It was pretty good too! The whole aspect of gathering up this party of heroes all with different strengths and being able to not only insta-swap heroes to whoever suits the current situation best, but also insta-swap to your demon companion to dimension-hop was pretty cool. Not only is the dimension-hopping interesting from the way it changes the world and allows access to blocked routes in the real world, for example, I also liked using the dimension-hop in combat to essentially freeze time and reposition while also infecting the enemies so that they'd be possessed when I transfer back. I haven't played it yet, but it reminded me a bit of what they've done in the recent Lords of the Fallen. The game overall felt like a bit more of an adventure than other ARPGs: the world and particularly the dungeons had a decent amount of traps, secrets, puzzles, arena encounters, and cool boss fights with actual mechanics you need to dodge like rotating lasers that kept things interesting. Definitely much more variety than your typical randomly-generated set of rooms or big field to just mindlessly cut through monsters in. The game also seemed a bit interesting in that it had a lot of choices: your first hero choice will lock out the others and they all have their own motivations and goals which, while they still follow a similar set of progression for the main story, change bits and pieces as you go. Similar choices later on can get you certain heroes to join your party while excluding others: not sure to what extent it all adds up to being, but it might offer some good replayability. Having said all that, the game can be a bit janky in regards to some aspects, such as combat feedback which can be a bit floaty and limp for certain attacks. Also, I wasn't really feeling the story that much as I felt it didn't establish a clear path and kept throwing all these proper nouns at me that I didn't care about. The loot was pretty boring too and the interface for equipment was unintuitive and a hassle with multiple heroes to manage. Also compared to Dungeon Siege 3, it was a bit weird going back to a game that required that awkward LoL-esque attack-move kiting, instead of having an actual dodge/block mechanic. So yeah, a bit rough in some aspects in that AA/indie kind of way, but it stood out to me from other ARPGs with its cool hero-dimension-swapping and world with a greater variety and higher frequency of activities like puzzles, boss fights, and so on. Speaking of ARPGs, I see that Diablo IV is now on GamePass. Wonder if it's worth a look: I don't really know if I'd gel with that whole MMO shared questing stuff they got going, or if it turned out to be any good after the initial reception. FutureCop fucked around with this message at 01:35 on Mar 29, 2024 |
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Mar 29, 2024 00:40
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Check out this lil free thing that Bandai Namco put out! What if Jet Set Radio but you made your own rails to grind on? It's kinda neat for an experimental thing.
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Mar 29, 2024 01:55
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April games:   Minishoot' Adventures (April 2nd) - Basically applies the Metroidvania style to a top-down twin stick shooter. Played the demo, it was neat. Buckshot Roulette (April 4th) - Steam release of what I assume was previously an itch.io game. A russian roulette game that looks like it will appeal to fans of Inscryption or that minigame from Resident Evil 7   Biomorph (April 5th) - It's always exciting for me when there's multiple Metroidvanias in a month. Biomorph allows you to morph into the enemies you defeat, giving you access to new traversal and combat abilities to help you progress further. Spirit City: Lo-Fi Sessions (April 8th) - I thought maybe this was related to Spirit Swap but I guess it isn't. It's a focus tool that also has room customization and stress-relieving activities.   Gigantic: Rampage Edition (April 9th) - For some reason, like Emperor Palpatine, the MOBA Gigantic has returned. Botany Manor (April 9th) - What if instead of chronicling the deaths of the Obra Dinn, you were just trying to figure out what types of plants you have? No not Strange Horticulture, I'm talking about Botany Manor! It'll be on Gamepass.   And now, two absolute certain bangers. Children of the Sun (April 9th) is a ridiculously stylish sniper game about curving your bullet Wanted style through every enemy in the level to advance. While Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom (April 9th) mixes Mario 64 with Crazy Taxi; a 3D platformer without a jump button, but you won't need it with all the ramping and jet boosting you'll be doing. Both demos were incredible.   Underspace (April 10th) claims to be a spiritual successor to Freelancer on the Steam page, and IDK if you can just SAY that. Do they have previous staff on it? A game I do know about, however, is Ereban: Shadow Legacy (April 10th), a cross between stealth and Splatoon where you can magically swim through the shadows, across walls and ceilings, to avoid encounters. Ereban at one point was rumored for Gamepass.   There's more than one Metroidvania on a bike! Turbo Kid (April 10th) actually was demoing at the same time at Laika Aged Through Blood, and you can actually hop off the bike at times as well. Broken Roads (April 10th) is an isometric Fallout-like with Disco Elysium-y painted backgrounds, which has been in the works for a long time.   Two card games here: Dream Tactics (April 15th) is a cozier Fire Emblemy title with cards as your moves ala Floppy Knights. Vertical Kingdom (April 15th) mixes cardbuilding with city building, and as the title suggests, you have to build upward.   Harold Halibut (April 16th) is a stunning looking stop-motion adventure game, while Biogun (April 16th) is a Metroidvania taking place inside the human body. I told you it was a Metroidvania heavy month! It's nice to see considering 2023 was kind of a disappointing year for the genre.   The Crew Motorfest (April 18th) - Out of Epic Jail comes the latest The Crew game. Let's see how long the servers last for this one! No Rest for the Wicked (April 18th) is an ARPG by Moon Studios (Ori and the Blind Forest) so it will of course have gorgeous art direction.   Dead Island 2 (April 22nd) - Another one out of Epic Jail. Does anyone care much about this? It took so long to actually get made that I didn't hear a peep about it once it actually was released. Eiyuden Chronicles Hundred Heroes (April 23rd, $50) is the spiritual successor to classic JRPG series Suikoden, complete with tons of recruitable characters. And I -can- say spiritual successor as it is by the original creator, who sadly passed away prior to the game's release (not the only situation like that this month). Should be on Gamepass.   Tales of Kenzera: ZAU (April 23rd) is basically the OTHER Prince of Persia Metroidvania this year, and as a second place contestant it's got some chops of its own. I played the demo and thought it had plenty to offer along with its nice visuals. It's best to remember that this is EA's Originals line, however, so it is an indie game with EA funding, not a AAA title. Phantom Fury (April 23rd), if I'm being honest, has disaster written all over it. It's a game inspired by, of all things, Duke Nukem 3D & Forever, it's by the studio that did Graven and (Mostly Negative-rated) Kingpin Remastered, and the team along with 3D Realms was hit with massive layoffs at the beginning of the year, so it is likely being put out unfinished (but without any Early Access period).   Oddsparks: An Automation Adventure (April 24th) mixes the usual automation/factory shenanigans with Pikmin style gameplay. I have the demo installed but haven't tried it yet. SaGa Emerald Beyond (April 25th) is the latest and greatest in the SaGa series, a followup to the universally-acclaimed Scarlet Graces and mostly sticking to that same formula. You can have a cat as a party member.   Another Crab's Treasure (April 25th) asks what a Souls-like would be if it was Under The Sea and the answer is, pretty fun! It helps that it's by the developer of a rare actually-fun roguelite in Going Under. Will be on Gamepass. Sand Land (April 25th), realistically, will be a mid licensed anime game, but it is still worth a look because of the very recent loss of manga legend Akira Toriyama, and its tank-based open world gameplay at least is an interesting spin in a field that usually just turns anime into arena fighters.   Yolk Heroes: A Long Tamago (April 30th) is a unique combination of idler, RPG, and Tamagatchi. You'll be raising up a hero via various minigames to boost their stats, equipping them with the best gear, and sending them out on adventures. Oh! One more game. Moonlight Pulse (April 26th) may not be the prettiest game, but it is a Metroidvania by the developer of hidden gem Vision: Soft Reset, so I hope it does well. The 7th Guest fucked around with this message at 03:02 on Mar 29, 2024 |
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Mar 29, 2024 02:51
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The 7th Guest posted:Yolk Heroes: A Long Tamago god damnit
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Mar 29, 2024 02:53
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The 7th Guest posted:
Yeah seriously, that's a hell of a claim to be making!
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Mar 29, 2024 02:57
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Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom's demo loving ruled, i am so excited for it Botany Manor could be pretty good too given the demo, though seems like it'll probably be a lot simpler and easier than most of the recent deduction puzzlers. it looks beautiful so can't knock it too much. the Biomorph and ZAU demos were both awesome, big year for Metroidvanias. for all the people who bitched about Prince of Persia being $50 and not looking great and being only on Ubisoft's platform, you better go fuckin buy ZAU for $20, it looks fantastic and plays well to boot. given the price and team size I'm pretty sure it's going to be about 1/5 the size, but hell, Prince of Persia was Too Much Game, so as long as this ends up feeling more complete than Momodora 5 did I'll be happy. Eiyuden Chronicles Hundred Heroes and SaGa Emerald Beyond are both games I never would have thought about playing a few years ago, but now that I'm surprisingly into JRPGs, I am curious how the reviews turn out for those. will be adding to my already hosed up JRPG backlog of LADIW, Unicorn Overlord, and Etrian Odyssey 2, but hopefully by the end of April I'll have finished at least one of those... right...??? 
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Mar 29, 2024 02:59
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZdcX4CPy6Q Oh my God the voice acting...  Edit: I think it's AI? Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 03:03 on Mar 29, 2024 |
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Mar 29, 2024 03:01
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The 7th Guest posted:April games: Dead Island 2: It's actually fun, having put 50 hours into it in Epic jail. Unlike the first game the world actually feels pretty open, opens up quickly, and lets you wander without feeling like it's just empty zone A into empty zone B doing same-y grind quests. Some of the quests are sweet, some are funny, some are stupid, the writing has more hits than misses even if the overarching plot is both jibberish and kind of Dying Light like? In conclusion: Worth a Steam sale pickup if it looks interesting, the combat IS very good though. Eiyuden Chronicles: Having been an early backer of the KS I can tell you everything I've seen about this game looks gorgeous, the systems look like they're just doing another good (1/2 era) Suikoden game. We've got basebuilding. We've got a hundred recruitables. We've got 6 party member slots and isometric JRPG turn-based battles. We've got shark-men and a ton of minigames I think? It should be either the biggest disappointment of the year or a profound banger with 0 daylight between those choices.
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Mar 29, 2024 03:14
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Oxxidation posted:same, interested how they’ll handle the genre switch If the level of quality is consistent from the demo content, the answer is "real well". It felt like "what if Hollow Knight was aping Sekiro instead of Dark Souls" in a very good way.
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Mar 29, 2024 03:17
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The 7th Guest posted:Dead Island 2 (April 22nd) - Another one out of Epic Jail. Does anyone care much about this? It took so long to actually get made that I didn't hear a peep about it once it actually was released. Epic jail definitely hosed its visibility, but from the small handful of people I saw who did play it, they were very positive. One compared it to how Dying Light 1 overshadowed Dead Island 1 in quality, only this time in reverse.
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Mar 29, 2024 03:18
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Jerusalem posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZdcX4CPy6Q jesus that looks like poo poo
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Mar 29, 2024 03:22
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Awesome! posted:jesus that looks like poo poo
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Mar 29, 2024 03:29
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children of the sun and yellow taxi on the same day. drat. also felvidek is out tomorrow. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2299900/Felvidek/ Find out what unlikely events take place in this alternate history region of Slovak Highlands. This land is ravaged by Hussite pillagers and Ottoman spies while surreal horrors dwell in the dark. It's now up to Pavol, a fair knight with alcohol problems, to gather a party and stop those who oppose our kingdom.   i played about 30 mins of the demo and it was weird and interesting. it's an RPGmaker game and the gameplay doesn't seem that out of the ordinary. but one of the first things that happen is that you bump into your wife who left you because you're an alcoholic loser. she's joined an evil cult and is seducing all the guards in the castle. meanwhile some hussites burn down a castle nearby. your lord orders you to send a messenger to his lord for reinforcements, but he's got the shits because your wife poisoned him.  meanwhile, one of the guards your wife was seducing plays along with.her to figure out her plot. except he plays along a bit too well and you become furious. after that i was 100% locked in on getting the full game, apparently it's only 2-3 hours long.
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Mar 29, 2024 03:33
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The Joe Man posted:That video is 4yrs old. Sorry, that's on me, I didn't check the date, it was just the top result for when I searched for the game on Youtube!
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Mar 29, 2024 03:33
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The Joe Man posted:That video is 4yrs old. And it's by a very tiny dev team that's punching way above their weight, I'm actually really impressed with that they've got as jank as it all looks. It's pretty much EYE Divine Cybermancy by way of Freelancer.
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Mar 29, 2024 03:37
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Mordja posted:Age of Mythology/Warcraft 3 mashup Godsworn just went into EA. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1328990/Godsworn/ Oh god yeah directly into my veins
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Mar 29, 2024 03:41
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I enjoyed dead island 2. Friend and I got sidetracked and never finished it but I really want to go back to it when time permits.
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Mar 29, 2024 04:20
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MarcusSA posted:I had a lifetime subscription to that game 😬 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w-2gUSus34
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Mar 29, 2024 05:25
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biomorph/gun both being Hollow Knight style metroidvanias is another lovely lovely Outer Wilds/Worlds situation
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Mar 29, 2024 05:31
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The Planet Crafter, a light survival/crafting/idler game is coming out of Early Access on April 10 https://store.steampowered.com/app/1284190/The_Planet_Crafter/
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Mar 29, 2024 05:32
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ymgve posted:The Planet Crafter, a light survival/crafting/idler game is coming out of Early Access on April 10 Nice!
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Mar 29, 2024 05:35
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ymgve posted:The Planet Crafter, a light survival/crafting/idler game is coming out of Early Access on April 10
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Mar 29, 2024 05:44
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The 7th Guest posted:i feel like that game would be up my alley but the demo didn't recognize the Deck as a controller so I couldn't really play it correctly -_- It says deck verified now 
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Mar 29, 2024 05:51
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apparently Embracer has finished "restructuring" with the Gearbox deal, so that means these studios should be safe: Gunfire Games (Remnant 1 & 2) Flying Wild Hog (Shadow Warrior, Evil West) Purple Lamp Games (Epic Mickey Remake, Spongebob: Cosmic Shake) DigixArt (Road 96) Coffee Stain Studios and its child studios (Goat Simulator, Deep Rock Galactic, Satisfactory) Crystal Dynamics (Tomb Raider, Perfect Dark reboot) 4A Games (Metro series) Aspyr Games (KOTOR remake, Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered) Beamdog (Baldur's Gate/Icewind Dale remasters, Mythforce) Snapshot Games (Phoenix Point) Tripwire Interactive (Killing Floor series, Maneater) Tuxedo Labs (Teardown) Zen Studios (Pinball FX, Operencia: The Stolen Sun) Limited Run Games Asmodee (board game publisher) Dark Horse Comics
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Mar 29, 2024 06:50
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Thinking of grabbing No Man's Sky, can you pilot the larger freighter/capital ships? Or are they more just mobile bases you call into whatever system you're in?
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Mar 29, 2024 07:28
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The 7th Guest posted:apparently Embracer has finished "restructuring" with the Gearbox deal, so that means these studios should be safe: Oh gently caress I didn't realise Gunfire was owned by Embracer.
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Mar 29, 2024 07:42
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The 7th Guest posted:April games: Thank you for your hard work. there was a Humble Choice April leaked, but given the date so close to dark jokers day I'm inclined to believe it may not be true. Image here: https://imgur.com/a/lIeBTHg Koburn fucked around with this message at 07:54 on Mar 29, 2024 |
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Mar 29, 2024 07:43
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going through small saga, it's good but whoever decided to randomly interject twitter lingo into the dialog needs a flick around the ear
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Mar 29, 2024 08:00
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My most anticipated game of April 2024 is by far Manor Lords, a city builder / tactical combat game. Out 26.4. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1363080/Manor_Lords/   And seems like a lot of others too, since it's gotten on over 2 million wishlists! I tried the demo in Demofest all the way back in fall 2022 and was immediately impressed. The town building felt very organic and the roads were formed with the paths the villagers took, you didn't make them yourself, for example. The finished version will also have medieval combat where a bunch of guys run into each other, but that wasn't in the demo. The demo was very bare bones but the village building felt SO good I had to stop myself from playing it too much. It's also a good springtime for metroidvanias. Biogun and Nine sols are interesting for sure, and I'll likely pick up Ender Magnolia to wait for a 1.0 release. TeaJay fucked around with this message at 08:54 on Mar 29, 2024 |
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Mar 29, 2024 08:27
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Koburn posted:Thank you for your hard work. If that's true. That's a banger of a bundle.
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Mar 29, 2024 08:43
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Chernobyl Peace Prize posted:
Very glad to hear this. I'm one of the minority who had a blast with the first DI (120 hours!) both solo and coop, so hearing DI2 is more but better is great news.
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Mar 29, 2024 09:24
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Koburn posted:Thank you for your hard work. i think Humble announces games on Tuesdays though, so a day after April 1st
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Mar 29, 2024 09:30
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Chernobyl Peace Prize posted:Dead Island 2: It's actually fun, having put 50 hours into it in Epic jail. Unlike the first game the world actually feels pretty open, opens up quickly, and lets you wander without feeling like it's just empty zone A into empty zone B doing same-y grind quests. Some of the quests are sweet, some are funny, some are stupid, the writing has more hits than misses even if the overarching plot is both jibberish and kind of Dying Light like? In conclusion: Worth a Steam sale pickup if it looks interesting, the combat IS very good though. Does it do anything different with or advance the combat of dying light?
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Mar 29, 2024 09:54
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The 7th Guest posted:apparently Embracer has finished "restructuring" with the Gearbox deal, so that means these studios should be safe: Aspyr surviving when some good studios didn’t is super great, just the best
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Mar 29, 2024 10:45
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Has anyone here played Forever Skies?
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Mar 29, 2024 10:45
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Infinitum posted:Thinking of grabbing No Man's Sky, can you pilot the larger freighter/capital ships? You can move them from system to system, but not actually flyable. You do get the option to send groups of frigates on missions, also not flyable by you. You just get to pilot ground vehicles and fighters/transports. You can position them anywhere though and its cool to walk out of your base and look up to see it hovering in orbit. NMS thread here if you have more questions https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3864065&pagenumber=452 OgNar fucked around with this message at 11:43 on Mar 29, 2024 |
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Mar 29, 2024 11:38
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Tuesdays Humble Monthly got leaked
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Mar 29, 2024 13:40
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Fashion Police Squad was fun
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Mar 29, 2024 13:49
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Good thing I held off on buying Returnal and Valhalla, I suppose.
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Mar 29, 2024 14:00
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Returnal was pretty good, Valhalla more like blahalla, always wanted to play Blacktail that game looks cool.
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Mar 29, 2024 14:01
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