Yeah, there was a whole kerfuffle about it because all the files were still on the disc, therefore some jurisdictions re-rated the game to some version of adults only. Rockstar definitely did all the development work to get that sex in the game, they just decided not to show it in normal gameplay.
It is genuinely ridiculous how much content there is in this game for the price. Like, a lot of it looks like an excuse to play the same levels a dozen times with minor variations, but then there are tons of levels, lots of events, ongoing updates with new content of all types, so many different towers and upgrades to play with, community maps to add even more variety… It looks like I’ve played over 200 games and I have so much of the game that I haven’t even touched yet.
Valheim is more combat oriented, but is probably my favourite survival crafting game after Subnautica. You’re playing vikings trying to earn their way into Valhalla. I die a lot. Very fun.
Planet Crafter is more chill, more jank, and more linear, but it’s a survival crafting game that is clearly heavily inspired by Subnautica. You are sent to a mars-like planet to terraform it as part of your prison sentence. It’s a great podcast game, just build and explore and watch numbers go up.
Less on the survival crafting side of things, the environmental storytelling is also really good in Outer Wilds and Return of the Obra Dinn. Very different games, but they were actually what I went to after Subnautica to scratch that itch and it worked weirdly well.
The art direction seems kind of off, but sometimes that can shake itself out in game.
The tone of the trailer is definitely not the Dragon Age vibe. Lighthearted Oceans-style crew selection to deal with what looks like some sort of world-ending calamity? Yeah, that’s not right.
Things could work out but I’m sure not feeling optimistic.
My prediction is that people will overhype it with lots of hopes for super complex systems, call it shit when it has fewer mechanics and civs than 3/4/5/6 with all their DLC, and then eventually decide it’s good after a couple years of DLC and patches.
You know, the usual Civ cycle. I’ll probably buy it day 1 assuming it isn’t actually broken, per usual, and dump a couple hundred hours in it, per usual.
Mount and Blade: Warband has multiple incredible total conversions. I’ve dumped a lot of time into Prophecy of Pendor and The Last Days, probably more than the base game.
For actually free games there are so many options that it really comes down to taste. Unciv is a fantastic reimplementation of Civ 5. Super Auto Pets is a fun casual auto battler. HoloCure is a really good Vampire Survivors-style game themed after Hololive vtubers. There are tons of MMOs and shooters that are F2P and good, but I know most of those from hearsay rather than experience.
I only played a few hours of Dome Keeper but it was quite a bit of fun. There’s already a fair amount of variety possible in the runs but not so much that this isn’t appreciated.
What is the current state of the Early Access version?
“Most planned core features of the game have been implemented. Single-player and multiplayer modes are fully functional and we have a separate dedicated server tool if you want a server running 24/7. There are currently six fully developed biomes out of a planned total of eight (plus the Ocean). There are hundreds of different items (weapons, materials, armor etc) in the game, to be found or crafted by the player. We have over 200 building pieces, and about 50 different types of creatures including monsters, animals and bosses.”
It sounds like the game’s getting Ashlands plus one more biome, but not much for new features. So depending on your definition of feature complete it’s at least pretty close anyways. From this point on it’s theoretically more of the same.
I’m pretty much on the same page as you, although I started playing a couple months ago with a couple friends. The game is obviously not abandoned, and it’s a pretty full game even with more to come. We finally built a hot tub on the weekend and I don’t know how I’m supposed to expect more from this game than chilling in a tub with your naked viking bros.
I spent a whole sick day blasting through a good chunk of the games a while back. It’s weirdly fun. I basically just bought it for the pin pull game that always infuriates me in ads but spent several hours getting all the stars in the parking lot game instead.
I’ve happily paid $70 CAD for games significantly shorter and smaller in scope than Shadow of the Erdtree looks. Plus I’m wanting to jump back into Elden Ring anyways and I more than felt like I got my money’s worth the first couple of times. So $56.16 CAD (what my receipt says it cost me) is pretty much fine for that.
This might be a weird take, but I don’t really care whether I’m paying for a new game, a DLC, a microtransaction, or even a gacha pull. If it seems like it’s somehow worthwhile, whether that’s by fun or hours played or novelty or whatever, I don’t really worry that much about what form it takes. This usually means I just buy new games (how often is a microtransaction at all reasonable to pay for?) but I don’t really worry about DLC pricing if it looks good.
Honestly? I just let the hype train roll me into the steam store. Not gonna pretend it was a smart decision, certainly not gonna advise anyone else do it.
What were the serious technical flaws at launch? I remember some performance issues but nothing super serious.
SMTV nailed the general gameplay for me better than any other SMT or Persona game, so I’m interested in better performance on PC and what looks like a semi-functional story. Despite all its flaws I’ve been wanting to play through again, this would make that feel less wasteful.
… But I do wish I didn’t need to rebuy the whole game.
I finished playing through with a friend a few weeks ago. Act 3 wasn’t notably more buggy than the rest of the game for us, and most bugs we came across were fixed by a quick restart anyways.
Great game, highly recommend even if it’s probably overhyped to some extent. We clocked over 100 hours in our playthrough and still want to keep playing.
Man, OSRS dodging most of the scummy monetization has been fantastic and has contributed greatly to it being relatively lively for so long. I can’t imagine a new owner won’t want to extract every possible drop of value from it, especially an investment firm.