Spoilers: >!Most of the game is a prequel to HL2, but in the final few minutes, you get sent into the future, right to the time and place where Episode 2 ended. So it does advance the Half-Life plot forward, but only by a few minutes.!<
Some desperate scalpers on ebay are already trying to sell the 512GB version for 1000€. Despite the fact that you can still order one for half the price and receive it within 6-10 days.
I’ve had Slay the Spire in my Library for a while, but only got hooked on it when I tried it on Steam Deck.
When I got my Steam Deck at launch, the first game I was hooked on was Elden Ring, which came out around the same time. I first started it on my PC, but got frustrated by the huge lag spikes. Thankfully, those aren’t a thing on Steam Deck!
To an extent I can apply my knowledge to other engines, sure. I’m working on my third Unreal project currently, and while it’s not like starting from scratch, I’m definitely way slower working with it. It also doesn’t replace Unity completely. It’s great for high-spec 3D stuff, but almost useless for mobile 3D/AR apps, which is a lot of what I do (not making games but mainly industrial interactive 3d applications).
Really sucks to be a Unity developer right now. I’ve been working with mostly Unity for around 10 years now, and while I’m not directly affected by the recent changes, it really feels like the engine has been dying a slow death for a few years now. Hopefully Ricitello will leave eventually and they can turn this around, otherwise many of my skills will be useless in a few years…
When it comes to the barren planets, it just adds a bit of immersion IMO. Nobody is forcing you to visit those rocks, and you probably won’t ever land on most of them, but it’s cool that you can. So to me, it’s not something that has a negative effect on my enjoyment of the game.
Makes sense to wait for a sale though. Mods and updates will no doubt vastly improve the game. Personally, I just play it on gamepass.
Absolutely makes sense for most planets to be rather barren. What I found a bit disappointing so far - keeping in mind I started yesterday and I’m only a few hours in - is how mostly when you land on a planet there is a key point of interest (an outpost, a mining facility, a city etc) at a landing site and then immediately a whole lot of randomly generated nothing around it. No roads or paths, NPCs, houses etc. I haven’t really been to a place where I got that Skyrim feeling of going out into the wilderness and finding interesting things. I hope that later on there are at least a few areas with more substantial exploration. Still enjoying the game though.
Looks great, but I’m skeptical if it’ll ever see an actual release. Remastering the entire game with the kind of asset quality we see for this single room would require an enormous amount of time and effort, especially with people working for free.