I’ve been playing for about two months now, after a multi-year break from the game. Just casual, not competitive (although Stadium is classified as competitive). It’s great.
Two bad things for me. Flex Queue means Tank, which sucks, because I’d like to play all roles, but now have to just queue DPS/Heal. Also, the matchmaker is shit, so most games are relatively one-sided (Quick Play and Stadium).
It also seems as though plans for a sequel to Baldur’s Gate 3 are in the early stages already. Speaking to PC Gamer, Eugene Evans, the senior vice president of digital strategy and licensing for WotC and Hasbro, said the company has already started conversations about what the next Baldur’s Gate game will look like and how...
Genuine question. Seemed to be super hyped and now I don’t hear much about it. Steam charts have 300k as highest player count but now it’s around 60-80k players.
Never really agreed with the Metroidvania label, same with Skul: The Hero Slayer. You unlock different biomes (and side rooms), but the items to do so are more like keys. Just my thoughts on that.
Discovered this yesterday and had a blast. Parkouring is so much fun in this game and the story is interesting too. Even though it’s ten years old, the graphics are still awesome.
BTW, the game can’t be bought in Germany for some reason, but you can activate third-party keys with no problem. No VPN needed.
I bought it on Nuuvem years ago and everything worked. Dunno if region-locked keys are sold, but the store should tell you if it’s only Russian, Japanese or whatever.
The only thing I know is that access to the specific purchase might get blocked, if there’s a payment issue. Not Steam directly, but a friend of mine once bought Diablo 3 for WoW gold on Battle.net, something happened after a while, and he lost access to the game, dunno if the other side refunded the game or whatever. All the other games still worked, but he’d have to buy D3 again to play it. I would be surprised if Steam blocks the whole account.
If they mean you buy a game, then there’s a problem with payment, but they should still let you download and play, that’s dumb.
The part about Steam Support being extremely slow is also old news. I think that’s been a lot better for years now. I don’t know if it was around the time they were forced to implement refunds, but I think that’s all outsourced now, and you don’t have to hope a Valve dev checks the support mailbox anymore.
BG3 and Cyberpunk have boobs and were a success, which would support that statement. But Wukong, Palword, and Monster Hunter Wilds were even more successful (according to concurrent Steam players), which means animals are the true secret to success.
You should do what you think is best, since you’re making these threads.
I remember back when OpenCritic launched, the dev made a Reddit post to gauge interest. MetaCritic used some weird formula to weight specific outlets of their choosing higher, and apparently people didn’t like that. OpenCritic was supposed to “fix” that. I never really followed that stuff, so I don’t know if that’s still the case, if MetaCritic changed or whatever.
I don’t care one way or another, and don’t really use these threads or even most of the reviews to decide if I buy a game or not. Looking them over, and maybe see some people freak out because of “too much water” is entertaining though.
I’m not a Nintendo gamer, but I’ve been watching a streamer play the game, and whenever I see the Knockout Tour it reminds me of the opening set pieces of the Forza Horizon games, where you’re going through all the different biomes, to introduce you to the game. And afterward you’re let loose on the Mario Horizon festival (aka the empty open world).
The game itself doesn’t look fun at all for me, but who cares, if people enjoy it.
Trying to beat the highest difficulty in Windblown. It’s not going well. I’d basically need to be able to beat the game hitless, which I’m not good enough for.
I’m interested in the Xbox game mode, or whatever it’ll be called. Freeing up all those resources to improve performance should be good. Also, the unified launcher for all your games could be neat, depending on how it’s going to work out.
The video from LTT made it look like when you launch this game mode or Xbox mode or whatever (like on the Deck, where you can still exit to the desktop), and lots of non-essential processes just get stopped automatically. After you’re done, those processes would start again. So nothing is really removed, just put on hold while you’re gaming, and there’s no separate OS version.
Wishlisting specific Game Editions would be nice, but how are you comparing nice-to-have features like that or custom download limits to stuff like Pre-Loading, Gifting, Bundles, etc.
For me, a separate Chat app for Steam is also a complete non-issue. I can’t really think of anything, that would improve, if it was integrated in the normal Steam app. Separate download and one initial login less? You can launch the Chat app from the Steam app itself, so you don’t even save that single extra tap to launch it, and for the user it’s basically the same as an integrated chat.
Finally, some real examples, where EGS is better than Steam, that actually impact people and might make them use EGS. Price is probably the most important one. If someone from Argentina pays like half as much on EGS as they would on Steam (don’t know how much it actually is), because EGS actually accepts their local currency and they don’t have to pay in USD or something, then it makes sense to switch to EGS
Also, EGS is better for devs than Steam, with revenue share, now even more so, as mentioned in the post. I don’t think a lot of people will buy on EGS solely for that reason, but it is something.
The OP says global preloading and gifting are going live soon
That’s why I mentioned them. You basically said, people (maybe unjustly) talk shit about EGS because of missing features like that, when they also have some advantages over Steam, and then talk about the most mundane stuff. “I might not be able to pre-load this game, but at least I can cap my download at 13468kb/s.” Those two are not the same.
It was very convenient to have everything in one place
As I said, with the button to switch to the Chat inside the Steam app, it’s basically the same. What is the real difference of clicking that button and switching to a different app, compared to clicking that button and switching to a new screen inside the same app? I genuinely can’t think of one. You could argue a separate app is better, because now you can open both apps at the same time in split screen, so you can browse the store or community pages, while chatting (I wouldn’t do that, but it’s possible).
I’m not sure the discounts offered via bundles on Steam are an overall better deal compared to Epic offering cashback of 5% on everything, sometimes increased to 20% (like now)
Probably not, most of the time, and this post doesn’t detail what bundling for EGS means. Steam has normal game bundles and the Complete-your-Collection bundles, which is dynamic and can give some extra discounts.
However, with Steam keys from legit third-party sites, you might get an even better deal at times, maybe better than on EGS, so I don’t really know where it’s the cheapest.
I’m not a huge Elden Ring guy, haven’t even played the DLC yet, but watching a streamer play Nightreign, I kinda wanna try it myself, even with these problems.
My friends aren’t into these types of games anyway, so it always would’ve with randoms (solo supposedly isn’t that good).
Different is good. I’m not a FromSoft-gamer. Elden Ring is the only game of theirs I really ever got into (and it’s not for lack of trying), so I don’t really care it’s not the same game again.
Also, you’re right, what I’ve seen doesn’t look easy, and no real communication at all is a bummer (only set a marker or jump and crouch in front of something), but it still looks like fun.
I played games on the PC before, but DKC was the first SNES game I played, maybe the first game with a controller. I still remember, after the console was set up, my sister played for a bit, then I wanted a turn, and just ran straight into the first enemy. Then I just watched my sister play for a bit, lol.
We didn’t have a lot of SNES games, but the game became probably my favorite on the console, along with the sequel. I played through both of them a bunch of times, and found every secret, without looking up guides.
A year or two ago, I casually played through it again, in like an hour, which was fun, I’ll have to do it again, along with the second game.
Hearing the music nowadays is also nostalgic, but it’s also just so good.
Holiday weekend… Forgot to post. Whatcha all been playing! I’ve mainly just been continuing with Talos principle 2. It’s good! The story is definitely a lot bigger in scope this time around but I am enjoying it so far
Played some Overwatch 2 Stadium mode. It’s kinda underwhelming I guess?
Comments described the mode as super crazy, with all the powers you can get, but it doesn’t feel much different, since normal OW also added passives, that you unlock during a match. There are also not that many characters enabled for the mode yet, which doesn’t help, because there are just one or two characters per role I want to play. With superfast rounds, it does feel faster than normal OW, but the whole match takes 20-30 minutes, except giga stomps, that can be over in only 10 minutes.
Since the matchmaker is also terrible as always, games just don’t go to 7 rounds, so you don’t get all of your upgrades. I played 11 matches, 9 of them were had a 4-1 scoreline or worse (3-0 or 4-0), wins or losses. Only two went to 4-2. Stadium is treated as a ranked mode and has no casual queue, so maybe once you’ve climbed some time, the matchmaking gets better, but each role has a separate rank, and I always flex, so that could take a while.
Looks exactly the same as all the other non-future Anno games, although I don’t remember if your citizens disliked living next to a pig farm in 1800.
I don’t remember if I ever played through a story mission or scenario in the previous games. I always just start an Endless Game, set the difficulty all the way down, with no other NPCs, and just build until I’m satisfied. Looking forward to doing the same thing here.
Hey y’all! What have you been playing this week? I played a bunch of the recent Talos principle remake. It was cool! The story hits differently with the way the world is with AI but I still thought it was enjoyable. Now I’m starting up the sequel!
Played through DOOM: The Dark Ages. It’s good, and I already wrote a wall of text elsewhere in the comments. The second half of the story is pretty bad, even for Doom standards. I wanna do another playthrough, where I change some of the difficulty sliders.
My YouTube feed is filled with nothing but overwhelmingly positive reviews. All I did was watch the trailer a while back, then a review with gameplay from some influencer that got early access....
I’m currently playing the game, got like a handful of levels left. It’s a good game, but with the way the Doom games have evolved and changed over the time, I don’t think you can really say “if you like that Doom, you’ll like this Doom.”
I definitely enjoy the gameplay of Eternal more, but Dark Ages is really good.
The feel of running around is great. You sound massive, your jumps create shockwaves and kill enemies. If you’ve played Boltgun, it’s like that.
The shield is feels great. The charge is awesome, just like the Meathook was in Eternal to get right next to your enemy, and fodder demons just explode on impact.
Parries feel good, but are extremely easy. The timing is super forgiving and the range is massive.
I think a big thing, that not many people are talking about, are the difficulty sliders. You can change so many things, but ID just ignores 90% of them with their presets. You can change so much stuff, and make it feel like a completely different game. Crank up the game speed and just zoom around. Increase your and the enemies damage, so it’s all about dodging, or you get one-shot. Make the projectiles slow, but a lot more deadly.
There’s still some ammo management, but it’s not like Eternal, not even like 2016. Your melee attack, that you can use for the execute drops ammo, just like the Chainsaw, but you’re using it regularly anyway. Some guns also have upgrades that shooting demons with it also drops ammo for the weapon.
The game is a lot more story heavy, but just like in Eternal you can just skip it and not read the Codex entries.
The mech stuff is alright, but pretty basic, but also really short segments. The dragon is cool in theory, but I really hate these parts, and they just drag on for far too long. Flying around just isn’t fun.
Weapons are pretty good, and I have some favorites. The normal Combat Shotgun with upgrades is great this time and not just outshined by the Super Shotgun immediately. That Ball-on-a-Chain gun is also really nice, with some cool upgrades. Because you don’t really have any ammo issues if you use the melee regularly, I’ve just used one gun for long stretches of time, because there’s just no reason real reason to switch, and you can just use what you want.
The devs always said in Dark Ages you’re like a tank, but with default settings on Nightmare difficulty, you’re made out of paper. Projectiles are extremely dangerous, and enemies like to spawn behind you and shoot you in the back. The game is actually not great on telling you where you’re getting attacked from, and there’s just always tons of enemies around and some deaths can be kinda frustrating.
Then there are also some minor UI/UX issues. You get small icons in the middle for your melee charges, but they don’t show the progress like in Eternal with the Blood Punch. There’s no dedicated Map button, just open your Dossier, which remembers your last screen, which is annoying, because you want that map 99% of the time. Sprinting has this terrible vignette effect around your screen, and you want to sprint all the time, but you can only disable all screen effects, which includes some stuff I’d like to see.
For some dumb reason, the Fast Travel option, at the end of a level has been removed, so if you miss a secret, you’ll have to play the level again. There’s also tons of points-of-no-return, so you’ll have to stare at the map constantly, to make sure you haven’t missed anything, which makes the lack of a map button so terrible.
After I’m done with my Nightmare run, I want to do another one, where I play around with the sliders a bit. I want to turn up the game speed, but will probably lower the damage and projectile speed to compensate.
the player character expressed flagrant disregard for any narrative elements
They don’t. Doomguy does like two things in the very beginning, but it’s not like they don’t care, but rather about what Hayden has to say and his justifications for everything that has happened, that’s the part which he doesn’t want.
You meet Hayden later in his office, with a few minutes unskippable “cutscene,” but it’s not like Doomguy ignores him or jumps out of a window in the middle of it.
80% of the guns were just functionally worthless and parry spam + impaler would solve all, not some, all of my problems
That’s kinda all guns. Seems like ID wanted to please all those people who said they hate the “forced” weapon switching in Eternal and just made everything strong against anything.
Yes, but it would still be nice to have in the middle.
I went back to check in Eternal, and I was wrong about that game showing the progress on the icons in the middle of the screen. Just like Dark Ages it just shows charges that are ready to use, and the progress in the full HUD on the edges of the screen. Seems like I just need to get good and look at the full HUD, like I did in Eternal.
Under Windows, the 5 machine activations per 24 hours limit they impose wasn’t something I ever hit, but under Linux it’s kind of easy because, as the article states, switching Proton versions counts as a machine activation to Denuvo.
That limit isn’t mandatory with Denuvo and Doom apparently doesn’t have it. On Steam some games mention a limit on the store page, like Atomfall, Atomic Heart or a few Assassin’s Creed games.
The Dark Ages EULA does mention something like Denuvo “may” limit installations, but then never says anything else.
You can see the writing on the wall for FairGame$ and Marathon from a mile away, and this can’t possibly instill confidence in the people still working there.
I haven’t played yet, but the music in the trailers wasn’t that special.
Imma be honest though, while the music in 2016 and Eternal is great on its own, in the moment, while fighting, I really didn’t care, and was more concerned about surviving and blasting demons. I just re-played Eternal, and I couldn’t tell you a single music track that I remember.
Edit: Just finished the first level. By default, the sound effects are so loud, that I barely hear the music during a fight, which is fine by me. Just like in the previous games, outside of combat it’s mostly ambient and no music.
The music is by Finishing Move. They’ve mostly done music for Xbox stuff, like Halo: MCC, Halo Wars, Crackdown 3, even MSF, but also Borderlands 3, or Callisto Protocol.
Mick Gordon was already out for the Doom Eternal DLC, Andrew Hulshult did that (Dusk, Amid Evil, Prodeus).
I’ve read a bunch of comments, where people are specifically calling out Marty Stratton, Studio Head at id. He posted an open letter to reddit, placing all the blame for issues with the music and soundtrack for Doom Eternal on Mick Gordon (which Mick later refuted with evidence).
Decided to give Overwatch 2 a shot, until the new Doom is out.
First time playing OW in a couple of years, just doing normal 5v5 Quick Play, and it’s been fun. Mostly Tank and Support, but occasionally the Matchmaking Algorithm graces me with a DPS game. Current favorite heroes: Hazard and Orisa for Tank, Brigitte and Juno for Healer, and Venture for DPS.
After I’m done with Doom, I’ll take a look at Stadium, the new game mode that was added to OW recently.
These past couple of days, I’ve been always queuing flex and I got 5x DPS in 60+ games, including one in the final 10s of a loss, where I didn’t even make it to the point.
It doesn’t really bother me, I like Tank and Support, and since Blizzard added a bunch of them when OW2 came out, so there’s still a lot to try and learn.
What do you want? Lots of games fit that description.
In some shooters, you basically only grind for cosmetics, like Overwatch, Marvel Rivals or Counter-Strike. Dota 2 is a Moba and also only has cosmetic unlocks, I think.
Maybe Minecraft or Terraria? I don’t think you really grind in these games, but you do very similar stuff all the time.
No cosmetics pretty much disqualifies almost every game, because all of them have it, even old games.
In my comment before, I probably wouldn’t describe cosmetics as a grind. You just unlock stuff on the side, as a bonus, since most of it is random. It’s not like you’re going to play a thousand games of Ursa in Dota to unlock some rare skin.
I think the OW team was already pretty good in that regard, and Jeff Kaplan tried to “protect” them, even if that didn’t always result in the best decisions for the game.
The trailblazing video game website Giant Bomb has faced significant staff departures, as owner Fandom claims the brand will undergo “strategic reset and realignment”.
The ~2010’s, official game review scandal which all big videogame influencers like IGN, G4tv, Gamespot etc… (this was before instagram and tiktok) got bribed by corporations
Got any sources for that? Unless you think advertisement are bribes, this didn’t happen.
Jeff was fired because he didn’t want to change his low score for a Kane & Lynch game, after Gamespot was pressured by the publisher, who was running some huge ads on Gamespot. He also said that usually this doesn’t happen, because the review side and marketing on these big sites are completely separate, and the reviewers don’t hear of these complaints. In his case however, Gamespot had new execs, who got cold feet, and caved. They left shortly after.
I have never heard of anything else like this happening, except from angry fanboys, that think reviewers are on the take, when Zelda gets an 8.8.
'Spitting in the face of your international audience': The Alters cops to using generative AI for background text and translations, despite not disclosing such on Steam (www.pcgamer.com) angielski
In a statement, 11-Bit Studios confirms that an instance of AI-generated text appears in The Alters due to an “internal oversight”...
Overwatch 2 slaps angielski
First of all I know a lot of people don’t like this game so I’m not here to change anyone’s mind....
Baldur’s Gate 4 may happen eventually, but not with Larian Studios (www.polygon.com) angielski
It also seems as though plans for a sequel to Baldur’s Gate 3 are in the early stages already. Speaking to PC Gamer, Eugene Evans, the senior vice president of digital strategy and licensing for WotC and Hasbro, said the company has already started conversations about what the next Baldur’s Gate game will look like and how...
Did nightreign flop? angielski
Genuine question. Seemed to be super hyped and now I don’t hear much about it. Steam charts have 300k as highest player count but now it’s around 60-80k players.
What are your favorite metroidvanias?
What do you like about them? What platform(s) did you play them on?
Weekly “What are you playing” Thread || Week of June 15th
Late thread sorry!...
Dying Light is 80% off at 3.99€ (store.steampowered.com)
Discovered this yesterday and had a blast. Parkouring is so much fun in this game and the story is interesting too. Even though it’s ten years old, the graphics are still awesome.
Stellar Blade PC launch Hits 99K+ Concurrent players, surpassing every other PlayStation-published single-player game on Steam (noisypixel.net) angielski
Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour || Review Thread angielski
Game Information...
Mario Kart World | Review Thread angielski
Game Information...
Weekly “What are you playing” Thread || Week of June 8th
What have you all been playing?...
Xbox is launching a handheld with ASUS (gg.deals)
And so it begins
Nintendo Switch 2 is already running custom graphics through exploit one day after launch (www.notebookcheck.net) angielski
Epic Games Unreal Fest News angielski
Epic Games’ Unreal Fest:...
Elden Ring Nightreign’s Massive Steam Launch Tarnished by 'Mixed' User Reviews Over Lack of Duos Co-Op, Voice Chat (www.ign.com) angielski
People should’ve known these things going into it but hopefully the bad reviews should push fromsoftware to make the duo mode quicker.
Let's discuss: Donkey Kong (beehaw.org) angielski
The format of these posts is simple: let’s discuss a specific game or series!...
Weekly “What are you playing” Thread || Week of May 25th
Holiday weekend… Forgot to post. Whatcha all been playing! I’ve mainly just been continuing with Talos principle 2. It’s good! The story is definitely a lot bigger in scope this time around but I am enjoying it so far
Blades of Fire | Review Thread (beehaw.org) angielski
Game Information...
ADHD gaming angielski
Anno 117: Pax Romana - Gameplay Showcase Trailer (www.youtube.com) angielski
Weekly “What are you playing” Thread || Week of May 18th
Hey y’all! What have you been playing this week? I played a bunch of the recent Talos principle remake. It was cool! The story hits differently with the way the world is with AI but I still thought it was enjoyable. Now I’m starting up the sequel!
Doom the dark ages... angielski
My YouTube feed is filled with nothing but overwhelmingly positive reviews. All I did was watch the trailer a while back, then a review with gameplay from some influencer that got early access....
‘Doom: The Dark Ages’ DRM Is Locking Out Linux Users Who Bought the Game [404 Media] (www.404media.co) angielski
PlayStation Executive Jade Raymond Leaves Studio She Founded (www.bloomberg.com) angielski
You can see the writing on the wall for FairGame$ and Marathon from a mile away, and this can’t possibly instill confidence in the people still working there.
Sony considers further price rises, as it braces for £500m tariffs impact [Eurogamer] (www.eurogamer.net) angielski
Loving Doom The Dark Ages, only one issue I've had so far. (i.imgur.com) angielski
The music is just off. Like…it works but it’s for sure not Mick Gordon. This feels like I’ve got Mudvayne’s practice tapes playing over the gameplay.
Weekly “What are you playing” Thread || Week of May 11th
Whatcha all playing?...
I'm looking for the Holy Grail of multiplayer gaming angielski
What is a good multiplayer game that is both (almost) endlessly replayable AND with less grinding as possible?
Blizzard's Overwatch Team Just Unionized: 'What I Want To Protect Most Here Is The People' (kotaku.com) angielski
Doom: The Dark Ages | Official Launch Trailer | Available May 15, 2025 (www.youtube.com) angielski
Future of Giant Bomb website in doubt following prominent staff departures (www.videogameschronicle.com) angielski
The trailblazing video game website Giant Bomb has faced significant staff departures, as owner Fandom claims the brand will undergo “strategic reset and realignment”.