It is a game flooded with child players that lost its identity when it stopped being a tower defense and instead copied PUBG but with other licensed IPs.
The game itself is fine I guess, if you dont ever interact with its insufferably annoying community.
Mildly interested. Concerned about monetization. I don’t do subscriptions or microtransactions, and “pay once and you’re good” is pretty rare, probably in part because there’s ongoing costs to running a server and in part because lol most people will charge as much as possible. But that’s why the only MMO I play is guild wars 2. You buy the game and you’re good. They sell expansions every couple of years.
Also you should mention lemmy on your site where you mention discord and reddit.
We don’t have an official community here (at least, not yet). And I’m quite hesitant to add one, as we already have our hands full with Discord, Reddit and WalkScape Portal communities.
When it comes to monetisation, the model we’ve planned is what seems both the fairest and most sustainable when compared to any other alternative, which is why I chose it as our plan. You can either buy it once to gain access to the offline “ironman” mode, or pay an affordable monthly subscription to play the online mode - both of which will be free to try out, so you’ll know if it’s worth your money before paying anything.
Going with single purchases only isn’t as sustainable for an online game. It’s much harder to keep it supported and expanding it long-term (and pay for servers) if we’re relying on single purchases, and it would tie us into needing to plan expansions that bring extra revenue to keep things running. By having an affordible subscription, we can keep content coming rapidly without needing to consider what kind of expansion pack and price tag do we need to put these new features behind, which I feel is much better from both game design and player perspective.
Microtransactions and ads are something I’ve clearly stated we’ll never be doing, as those also compromise game design and are predatory or come with privacy concerns.
I really like the thoughts put into the game. However, I personally think, that micro transactions aren’t necessarily a bad thing, if you do them right. As an example for this I would call Helldiver’s. You can pay to get faster progress, but it isn’t necessary by any means. You can unlock everything with a reasonable amount of grinding.
But this game is tied to fitness and also has competitive elements to it. Imagine you can buy yourself faster progress here, when it’s all tied to physical activity. It would completely ruin the game and any competitive aspects in it, and devalue the feeling of achieving things in it, if players with bigger wallets gain advantage. When there’s only an affordable subscription, there’s a ceiling to spending and no one can gain unfair advantage by paying more than others.
Microtransactions overall pretty much always compromise game design. Games usually make the grind or progress much slower than what would be actually good to drive the purchases of MTX.
I’m also personally very against MTX and ads, I think they’re the worst invention in gaming and I hate when game design is now revolving around what kind of mechanics can make people open their wallets as often as possible instead of what’s fun and cool.
I’m really glad to have found a fitness app made by someone with the exact same opinion as me on app monetization. I’ve been using the app since March and will happily pay for the subscription. I’m really happy to see this openness, and the fact that you still repeat this promise.
Thank you! The very first post I ever posted to r/WalkScape covers this and I promised that there will be no ads and no MTX, and we’re going to keep what we’ve promised. That’s also why I’ve turned down every investor and publisher, as those could compromise this by having a stake at the company.
I agree with your ideas on micro transactions here. They create a lot of temptations to make the base game worse. “Your inventory holds 12 items but for a very reasonable price you can hold 6 more!” may seem harmless but it also sucks. The game is objectively and arbitrarily worse without that transaction.
Purely cosmetic skins are a little better, but you end up taking advantage of people who buy more than they should.
Exactly my thoughts! I was just approached at Gamescom by somebody who was pitching me to put limits to the inventory in order to sell expanded inventory space. He said it’s cool, as it’s just selling “utility” to the player. I think it’s designing your game to be annoying so people would pay more for it, and I like to put game design over anything else. As a game developer, I’m proud of designing things well and would feel disgusted by intentionally designing crap just to make more money.
Also I think the best cosmetics in games are those you earn through gameplay, which is why all of the cosmetics (which there are a lot in WalkScape) are earned by putting hard work inside the game. And also the players are proud to put the rare cosmetics on their characters to flex that they’ve achieved something. I think that’s a lot more cool than just being able to pay real money for it.
Not to even talk about what you just mentioned here. All kinds of MTX, be it cosmetics only, really take advantage of people who can’t limit their spending. They’ll pay a lot more than they should and it encourages unhealthy spending habits.
But this game is tied to fitness and also has competitive elements to it. Imagine you can buy yourself faster progress here, when it’s all tied to physical activity. It would completely ruin the game and any competitive aspects in it
Okay, you got a point there. Can’t argue against this.
We’re planning that it’ll receive the same updates as the main game itself and all of the features (that work offline). Expansions to the game world might come at a small price so you can enter those, but other than those my current plan isn’t to restrict features, new skills or content additions to existing regions in any way in the offline version.
Also, offline version will include cloud saving so there’s no risk of losing your progress if the device is lost. It’ll cloud save when it has connection periodically while mostly keeping everything on a local save.
I hate stealth games and didn’t like the AC series until Origins started the “Witcher 3 wannabe” style of AC games. All 3 of the ones released so far (Origins, Odyssey, Valhalla) have been like crack for me - I can’t stop playing them until I’ve been to every icon on the map. If you like open world action RPGs and Ancient Egypt, you’ll probably like it. If you prefer stealth like the older AC games, though, you might not.
The first game I ever completed and the first time I left a review for a game. The music, the atmosphere, the design, everything blew away. It was freeware from back in 2006. Made by a guy called Nifflas. It’s a sidescrolling platformer where you are an intelligent bouncing ball. I still think about it to this day.
Sadly, it’s not available on PC, but it is available on Nintendo Switch (US eShop page linked above) and PlayStation 4 (and PlayStation 5 through backwards compatibility).
It’s a sci-fi game made by the creators of some games you might’ve heard of in passing (namely Dragon’s Crown, Odin Sphere, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, etc.), Vanillaware. I can’t go into any details about the game itself because of spoilers, but I will say it is quite simply the best and most uniquely told story I have ever seen in a game. It’s a game you have to experience for yourself. You should go into it as blind as possible, too.
I will say the English dub of the game is also surprisingly good, considering it was recorded almost entirely in COVID lockdown. The Atlus West sound engineers (Atlus published the game in the west) must’ve worked some incredible magic to get it to sound as good as it does.
If you liked this I really hope you’ve dug into 1000xRESIST. They’re not super similar but enough so that I think if you liked 13 Sentinels you’d probably like it also
I’ve started playing through it, but I’ve got other games currently that I’m focusing on (currently Trails in the Sky FC, then Persona 3 Reload: The Answer, and then Metaphor ReFantazio).
As for the Trails series, I’ve been told that the best place to start is (understandably) the beginning. Play in release order. The first three games are in 2.5D (as opposed to 3D), but they actually hold up really well.
Most people (myself included) will recommend that you use a spoiler-free guide to avoid missing hidden quests and collectibles (such as a book series you’ll collect in its entirety over the course of the first game). I’m using this spoiler-free guide for my playthrough of the first game.
It’s also recommended that you go around talking to every NPC in the town you’re in every now and then. Dialogue updates as the main quest advances and, at times, if you’ve had an interaction with an NPC in (for example) a side quest and that NPC later pops up in the main quest, the NPC will remember that interaction from the side quest. Some NPCs also pop up in later games with their stories continuing (or so I’ve been told).
Almost every single Trails game is also available DRM-free with achievements on GOG. The only one missing is the latest game (which has a “coming soon” page). The series goes on sale on GOG pretty frequently, too.
Also, examine every chest twice: once to open it and once to see the “empty chest” dialogue. The English localizers noticed that, in the Japanese version of the game, instead of having the empty chests call a single line of dialogue multiple times, each chest had its own line to call. (It was the same thing copied and pasted every single time.) So they had some fun with it and made nearly every empty chest have unique dialogue.
Also, just today, during the Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase, The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 1st, a remake of the first game in full 3D with the modern Trails aesthetic, was announced for a 2025 release worldwide. Though I don’t know how faithful it’ll be to the original game or to its localization. So you could wait for that if you want or just play the original trilogy immediately. But, again, the originals still hold up really well.
Physics based Gladiator roguelike. Work your way up, start fighting with boards dressed in rags in city crossroads for the amusement of peasants, and end a God of Blood fighting in gold in the Coliseum!
Or die along the way. You’ll die a lot along the way :)
I did not realize this game was this well known! It has a super low player peak and at least last time I looked after I first played it years ago no big YouTube channels had a let’s play of it either.
I want a game in the Black Marsh. And I want it to be weird like Morrowind where I can kill anybody and become a god (from absolutely nothing).
Like, in Morrowind you’re literally not important. Even the Nerevarine hopefuls die and they just find another. Oblivion you’re given instructions (by the Emperor, IIRC). Skyrim you’re the Dragonborn pretty much immediately.
The Morrowind expansion for Elder Scrolls Online could have been the greatest thing ever, if they had just straight remade TES3 in the ESO engine, following the failed Neverine that literally existed in lore during the era ES was set in. Instead they just released an expansion set in morrowind with a story that had nothing to do with tes3’s storyline.
I really wanted to love ESO, and I'm delighted that they'e actually using the weirder lore sometimes, but it never felt like it rewarded my exploration. Like I never learned aything new about a place by finding stuff in it.
Ridge Racer - Namco have really done it dirty and would love to see it revived. Take it back to basics as a pure arcade racer without the Burnout nonsense.
Timesplitters - Just pleeeeaaase.
Alundra - It was a JRPG on PSX and nothing ever came after the second game. It had loads of potential.
SSX - I still love the stupidity of those early games. Would love to see a fun another snowboarding game that doesn’t take it self seriously.
In regards to SSX, after the success of the Tony Hawk Pro Skater remake, I am surprised that EA did not counter with a remake of SSX Tricky. I love how accessible the SSX controls are while still offering plenty of depth for people who want to optimize their runs. It is too bad that EA Sports seems to be focused on simulationist sports games (and live services).
I can across this a while back that might scratch some of the SSX itch for me - its an indy game that takes heavy inspiration from SSX. There’s a basic demo, it plays quite well on Steam Deck. Though I wasn’t a fan of the controls, so hoping the dev changes them or allows them to be changed.
I want to see an adaptation of Naked Lunch as a video game that starts out as a hard-boiled neo-noir detective game, becoming a surreal waking nightmare much like the book, and ending with becoming an endless randomly-generated flight from the cops as you evade pursuit for accidentally killing your wife during a game of William Tell.
I’ve got probably 9,000 hours on different variants of the Civ franchise over my lifetime, assuming I played Civ V and VI the same amount as the other four. I’ve got 1,600 hours in Factorio and probably the same amount in KSP.
My point being that some of us kinda do want the same shit over and over.
For me it was the themeing. Games like League of Legends try to come up with weird reasons why the games work the way they do and it feels silly. SMNC leaned into the goofiness. Instead of killing a dragon for gold you’d have to catch the Mascot. I wanna say you’d get stuff from brands to help you out but I can’t remember.
I was just looking at Valve’s publishing history. Their catalog is super small, only releasing games every few years. Aperture desk job was amazing (even if very short and sweet). I don’t have VR but Half Life:Alyx was also very well received. Recent evidence suggests there will be a HL3 sometime in the near future.
Do I wish Valve would invest more of the unfathomable amount of money they’re making into producing excellent games? Absolutely.
Am I going to hold it against them if some of the games they make are money-printing machines? Not really.
I’m not a kid anymore, I don’t have time for a deep immersive single player campaign, I want a light casual game I can play a few rounds of to relax after work.
I grew up and decided that games have a place in my life to give experiences, you grew up and decided that they are a source of burst distractions. I guess age has nothing to do with it and it’s just about personal preference.
Some games give you a story that sticks with you and you love them for that (Half-Life, To The Moon, Bioshock Infinite). Some give you an experience that sticks with you but no story to speak of (like Doom and Doom II, which I still play).
What I dislike is having to deal with people in my games. I already do that in reality, thank you very much.
I honestly cannot fathom how people find pvp games relaxing. They're toxic as fuck and their competitive online nature makes them inherently stressful.
Nah, I just type gg at the end. They’re just games, like disc golf, volleyball, or airsoft. I lose sometimes, actually I lose a fuck-ton, but that’s just statistics if the matchmaking isn’t actually the worst. It’s those wild unscripted moments. Coordinating with your buddies. Learning your opponents. Learning yourself.
I get the appeal of single player games, but I’ll just share my opinion: to me the most stressful gaming moments are hard bosses in single-player campaigns. If I get my ass handed to me in a multiplayer match, nbd “gg This is Rocket League”. I’ll get them next time. In the single player you’re stuck though. I’ve gotten migraines because I couldn’t beat a boss and I was stressing over the wasted money I spent on the game that I might not ever finish. Beating a boss after <5 tries is satisfying. Beating it after 20+ feels like getting out of the hospital.
I find single player enemies to be mostly easy and usually it is just a pattern logic that you have to figure out. Online games are just engagements with people who clearly take the game and what happens way too seriously, evident when you don't meet the required expectations (that goes for being bad and better than them alike). I also find pvp games way too repetitive. It's always the same matches over and over again. The same map, the same weapons, the same tactics. The randomness of the matchmaking just adds to making it more of a pointless experience. But ultimately, nothing really changes.
After two young kids I’ve pretty much abandoned multiplayer. Singleplayer, even deep ones, can be be paused, saved, interrupted and come back to later. And I’m wanting to go back to more distinct experiences, whereas I find stuff like league or live service games overfills time. I’m trying to avoid sandbox games too currently as well. Crusader kings, Stellaris, civilization are great, but im trying to concentrate on the more story driven games backlog right now
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