$30 cosmetic microtransactions are reasonable in Path of Exile, imho. But it’s free-to-play, and most of their MTX are purely cosmetic.
To get the “full” experience, I suppose you’ll want to drop a retail-box-price on a supporter pack to get some stash tabs, but you can reasonably play the game to end game content (30+ hours of play time for the first time for a new player, I’d guess?) without spending a cent.
But MTX in a game that’s over $100CAD on release? ಠ_ಠ
I enjoyed it for quite a while. Last I played, the meta gets a bit stale at the higher ratings, but it’s a really great game up until diamond ranking, at least.
I’ll probably buy the full version when it releases.
I hadn’t heard of the game before, but this looks really cool. From what I’ve gathered over the last little bit watching videos:
It’s a turn-based tactical board/war/role-playing game based on “the best game Games Workshop ever made”. It’s set in a brutal post-apocalyptic fantasy world with permanent injuries and death, so there’s always tension that you could lose a unit permanently in any battle.
Negative reviews for the game are largely based on the randomness of the system; you need to carefully plan defensive strategies and use positioning effectively to mitigate the risk of bad rolls. You are expected to lose your team and restart. Often, when you first start. This isn’t so much a game to “beat”, as a virtual boardgame to play and see how far you can get.
It sounds like it’s a pretty complex system, too, where you need to carefully balance your team’s synergies and stat points to minimize risks. It sounds like there’s a very high skill ceiling to work towards.
This definitely isn’t a game for everyone, but I think it might be a lot of fun for me!
But you said yourself that you miss out on a lot of gaming sessions because you won’t buy EA games. If the game is fun, then who cares what it’s labeled? Presumably, your friends think the game is fun enough to play in its current state.
I don’t really understand the problem with “Early Access”; just make a decision based on whether the game is currently worth what they’re asking for it.
Steam is different, though; many games have no DRM and even more just have Steam’s DRM that’s already been cracked globally and is super quick to patch. They also maintain access to paid games even after they’re delisted.
AFAIK, the only problems with maintaining access to Stream games are software-as-a-service games when servers go down (MMOs and multiplayer servers, basically) and music with expired licenses (fuck the RIAA and copyright law for that one; not much Steam can do about that.) I have many delisted games in my library and I can download them any time I want.
Sure, Steam could go down, at some point. Maybe. But it’s not a big concern.
Shigeru Miyamoto is a legend. He comes off as very humble in this interview, too.
Nintendo must be unique in their retention of talent long term; it was really cool reading the part of the article talking about the intergenerational teams, with original designers working alongside developers who played their games as children. Can you imagine going to work with those responsible for your childhood favourite games?
It’s nice to see people talking about it. I caught a streamer I follow playing it like a month ago and it looked like a lot of fun.
I don’t have enough time to game to justify buying it at its most recent sale price, but I have my eye on it for the first time it gets a deeper discount or gets bundled.
Thanks for posting. I just watched review videos for all 5, and they all seem skippable, with better options available in their genres, all with some klunky mechanic or grindy/repetitive gameplay loop that frustrates.
Looks like I’ll likely skip this month, depending what the remaining 3 games are.
This one is a bit out there, but I feel like Backpack Battles is a series of self-generated puzzles.
It’s an autobattler where you shop between each round to buy items and bags, and items affect other items in specific positions around them. So, you’re constantly trying to react to what the shop is offering you to build a combo (and get balanced defenses), then rearrange your bag to try to maximize your item synergies.
It’s completely free to play in early access until its full release in April. And the global leaderboards are very active. Good luck getting to Master Rank, let alone Grandmaster! (I’ve plateaued in Diamond… I need to work on my early game.)
You could also try Twitch. Most smaller streamers are open to answering viewers’ questions (and bigger ones probably would be, too, but they just can’t because of volume.)
Was anyone else floored that Half-Life came out 25 years ago? I mean, of course I can do the math, but it hit me hard how long ago that was.
I remember reading a preview article in PC Gamer about the revolutionary AI in the game, how enemies would follow you if they could hear you and set up ambushes.
Then the first time I played it, having the story told right in the game with characters doing actions that you can look around and see and interact with … It was clear to everyone at the time that this was the future of storytelling in first-person games.
I’m definitely going to need to try this on my Deck when it arrives and see if the gameplay holds up.
I’ve heard D2R is really good on the Steam Deck, so I think I’ll start with that one. Or maybe PoE.
I’ve ordered an OLED Deck and I’m looking for games with fun gameplay loops that don’t take too much attention since I’ll most be playing while watching TV with my partner. ARPGs seem like a perfect match.