Tried the demo out, it’s a very stylish game and with it’s own unique take on movie production (somewhat similar to how you develop games in Mad Games Tycoon). Seemed promising, although I do wonder how well the core movie production gameplay works in the mid to late game.
I recently tried playing TF2 after a long break (maybe 5 years) and while there is still decent number of user run servers, it’s not always easy to find a relatively full one for many maps.
It really is special. I initially tried it out because I liked the aesthetic and the map setup/setting; small fantasy colony surrounded by impenetrable forest in a post-apocalyptic world. I was really skeptical about the roguelike x citybuilder hybrid as I like long city-builder sessions with huge maps and elaborate city designs, but they pulled it off perfectly.
I have 100+ hours. I did stop playing after the one of the early access builds made some changes that undermined by core strategy, but that’s a personal thing. Really need to try out the DLC and start from scratch.
This is a great game. They’ve managed to pull off a roguelike citybuilder; a genre combination that one would think would not work. Great visuals and atmosphere too.
There is also MMORPG Tycoon 2, which is comparable but actually does everything in 3D. It’s a fun game if the concept sounds appealing. The biggest issue is that it has been in early access for over 4 years (albeit with a relatively consistent update cadence).
To be fair the “most stable release yet” label is applied to almost every patch by star citizen fans.
Just take a look at any reddit thread (let alone the fan forum) and for every patch you having something along the lines of “perfectly stable” or “best AI I’ve ever encountered” or “a monumental achievement”.
It seems the model of subsidized hardware is coming to an end.
New semiconductor fab nodes are becoming more and more expensive. And on the flip side improvements in graphics are becoming more computationally difficult while being less substantial compared to earlier console generations.
PC gaming has also somewhat revitalised over the past ~10 years and more and more PCs are benefiting from “good enough” iGPUs (10 years ago even top iGPUs could not be used for even more moderately demanding games).