I was thinking of getting it, what’s up with Stalker 2?
It’s very buggy and an absolute mess from a technological perspective. The NPC simulation has been restricted to a tiny radius around the player, so you can for example see snipers spawn in when you get close to their towers. Even with that limited distance, the game is very CPU bound and performance takes a huge hit in populated areas. In general the NPC AI is pretty braindead and much worse than previous Stalker games. I’ve had to reload earlier saves a couple of times due to NPCs randomly getting hostile, the conversation UI staying permanently on screen and other progression stoppers. The graphics completely rely on TAA or DLSS and look like a checkerboarded mess without them. Despite all that though, I think it’s a pretty fun game and a remarkable achievement given the circumstances of its development.
Only thing I can think of are maybe the catching mechanics (which are straight out of Legends: Arceus). No idea if these would be considered unique enough to be patentable, guess we’ll find out.
I’ve been playing the new Guild Wars 2 expansion “Janthir Wilds”. Very enjoyable, with a nice setting and soundtrack.
I’ve bought Spin Rhythm XD on the recent Steam Sale. Quite a nice rhythm game, with excellent native Steam Deck support.
I’ve also been giving Deadlock a go. So far hasn’t really clicked for me though. Doesn’t help that I’m not a big MOBA player, the only one I’ve enjoyed so far is Heroes of the Storm.
I’d love to get another singleplayer game as well, but I’ve accepted that Valve is just unpredictable. I’m sure they haven’t given up on Singleplayer and we’ll get another singleplayer game… at some point. Their previous game was the fantastic Half-life Alyx after all.
Reading the full statement, it sounds to me like there was more to it than just the game’s development coming to an end. It sounds like it might have been a very sudden decision by the publisher, with possible negative consequences for the development team.
In principle I agree though, there is no issue with a game just being finished at some point, especially a single player one. But I also don’t mind continued updates and/or DLC.
I don’t agree with it starting the wrong conversation. Something does need to be done about companies denying access to a game you bought and that’s the conversation it starts. If this proposal lands on the EU negotiation table, I can guarantee you that the games industry will lobby against it, and heavily. There is no chance the EU will just go “OK sounds good, make it so!”. Heck, the chances are higher that if they pass an actual law, it will be so watered down that it won’t do anything at all. But then at least we tried.
I’ve watched his first video, but I really don’t agree with many of his points. He only barely acknowledges this being a proposal and then gets lost in the details. He’s clearly against any measures that have the slightest potential to be a disadvantage for game developers, which I guess is understandable from his perspective as a developer. But he doesn’t seem to particularly care about the consumer’s rights, basically saying the problem is solved as soon as the publisher makes it clear at purchase that people are only buying a temporary license. He’s also trying to discredit supporters of the initiative by saying they don’t know how the industry works, despite quite a few people in the industry supporting the initiative as well.
Really doesn’t matter whether the proposal as it is in the petition is completely realistic or not. The point is to get this topic into the EU parliament. It’ll be their job to work out a solution that works for both consumers and developers.
IMO the story is not really worse than the games’ writing. Fallout as a universe never really made sense. So for me, it being fun and campy is enough and just what I’d expect of a Fallout show.
Kirby’s adventure feels really modern for an NES game, still holds up great to this day. The difficulty is also closer to what people are used to nowadays, compared to the punishing difficulty of many NES games. One of the few NES games I played through completely.
The Skull and Bones beta motivated me to start a second playthrough of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag, 10 years after my first one. Having a blast, it’s honestly even better than I remembered and runs great on the Steam Deck.
I’d love to play it with my niece and nephew if the game had a split screen mode. Not going to happen if they need a Switch and a copy of the game each.
I usually emulate on my Steam Deck. I still have a Nintendo Online subscription going as it’s required for multiplayer (hate that that’s a thing), but I rarely use the emulators. I wouldn’t pay for the Online+ subscription, it doesn’t seem good value to me.