Interesting Things on Steam
Shadwen (Which I will not attempt to pronounce) is the new IP from Frozenbyte, the guys behind the Trine trilogy. Now, I know Trine 3 was a bit of a flop but the ideas behind it were great and I really enjoyed the first two. This time, they seem to be focusing on pure stealth. I love stealth games. But stealth games are not easy to do. So, I really hope they get it right. Coming in 2016.
Posted in Gaming, Less Interesting News by Eran with comments disabled.
Completion vs Just Progression
Here’s another interesting article I came upon called Progression is the New Victory. It talks about how games are not really completed anymore and about how a game could be never ending and boring or never ending and fun, mostly dependent on the progression system. And it got me thinking: I played some mobile games that are supposed to be never ending, or at least very long, and they couldn’t hold my attention for very long and here comes Star Wars: Uprising and I’m hooked. And, apparently, it’s not just because it’s a Star Wars game. They do progression well. Especially since the latest patch. First of all, the missions might be repetitive but they are not sufficiently difficult that I am currently stuck on two that are too difficult for me. So what do I do in the meantime? My second point, you can always do something. Even if I run one of the standard missions, I get a sizable reward out of it whether it be money or upgrade materials or equipment I can trade for money or salvage for upgrade materials. And while progression might be a bit slow, it doesn’t feel like much of a grind because I’m getting something appropriate to my position in the game. It’s not skinning 10 wolves for 100 gold pieces. Thirdly, the crew. You amass crew throughout the game which you can send on independent missions. They gather money, materials, gear, faction support or other crew members and, if you Continue Reading →
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Interesting Things on Steam
Boogeyman looks like it’s trying to ride FNAF‘s coattails because it looks just about the same as FNAF 4. But so far, it’s getting positive reviews. 6.5$ in Early Access now. Helldivers has been in development for a while, probably since Arrowhead abandoned the Magicka franchise and wrapped up Gauntlet. So, this looks like kind of the same thing except with big scifi guns. Yep. Count me in. Coming in December. Crashlands is a Don’t Starve like experience but… in SPACE! And it looks whacky and just plain cool. The video explains it best. Coming early 2016. Firewatch is a mystery story driven exploration game. There’s not a lot more than that to say except it looks very interesting. Coming February 10th.
Posted in Gaming, Less Interesting News by Eran with comments disabled.
Interesting Things on Steam
Descent: Underground… It’s Back!… It looks like a bunch of fans gathered together, got the license and are now bringing Descent back from the dead. And, hell, if it’s going to be as cool as Descent, as fun as Descent II and as smart as Descent3, I’m in. They even call themselves, Descendent Studios. I see what you did there. Now on early access for 25$. And, apparently, so is Aquanox, in Aquanox Deep Descent. There’s nothing much about it yet except saying it’s a reimagining of the original series and a return to the world. I haven’t played the originals but I was lead to believe they are pretty good shooters. Coming in 2017. Rocket League – Back to the Future Car DLCÂ just because I have to. I might want to actually play the game now…
Posted in Gaming, Less Interesting News by Eran with comments disabled.
Interesting Things on Steam
Smite is the third biggest MOBA of them all and some say it is the most interesting. I haven’t played it myself but I’ve heard it called more accessible, easy to manage and more fun to play than DOTA2 or League of Legends. It’s free as per usual but now you can have it with Steam achievements. Mars Colony: Frontier looks like a serious simulation of martian colonisation. Its tags also include RPG and Adventure so I hope it won’t be a NASA level serious simulation but something arcady enough and more enjoyable. Available now for 10$. Space Xonix is… pretty much like it sounds. It’s Xonix but in space. And completely bonkers. You claim territory just like in Xonix but then there are lasers and fireballs and lava and… just watch the video. Available now for 2$. Transformers: Devastation is a very colourful spectacle brawler starring our favourite set of Autobots and Decepticons and while all of these games always look like a kind of “mash buttons for glorious mass murder” simulator, it is so far getting great reviews from whomever plays it and I still have an affection for Transformers, even after Michael Bay. Coming Soon. Velocity Stream is an interesting concept of a space-like racer with crazy tracks because it is one player’s job to lay down those tracks in real time as the race progresses. I can think of a few problems with this but the idea is neat. I’ll wait for reviews. Available now for 15$. Alien Robot Monsters looks like Continue Reading →
Posted in Gaming, Less Interesting News by Eran with 1 comment.
The Less Interesting Telegram
אז טלגרם מנסים להיות טוויטר ואני בודק איך זה יכול לעבוד. אם יש לכם טלגרם, אפשר לעקוב אחרי עדכונים תכופים יותר כאן. עוד לא יודע איך לשלב את העדכונים האלו פה אבל בטוח מישהו יוציא תוסף בקרוב.
Posted in Less Interesting News, Practice, Thinking Out Loud by Eran with comments disabled.
Interesting Things on Steam
The Flock is an asymmetric “shooter” in which everyone plays a member of the flock trying to get an artifact, mark some beacons and survived without getting eaten by the other members of the flock before the round ends. It’s a rather basic gameplay loop and rather short rounds but the gimmick of the game is the limited population. Every time a member of the flock dies, a counter ticks down. When it ticks down to zero, the game will cease to function. It’s an interesting premise of planned obsolescence — as the developers put it, every multiplayer game winds down after a year or two, we’re just actively planning for it — and it kind of negates the idea of buying it later for very cheap. Right now, the responses are pretty mild with some even claiming this is not interesting enought to get enough players to play it for long enough to actually see the counter reach zero. My current stance on it is that I don’t really play multiplayer only games and this one does seem to be very light on content. It’s out now. Super Mutant Alien Assault is dubbed “The Citizen Kane of Super Crate Box Clones”. If you don’t know Super Crate Box, go right ahead. (You might also want to check out Muffin Knight). I’ll wait… Back? Good. From what is currently available, it does look like they’re taking it another step further, with more interesting weapons, special boss monsters, more level variety and distinct Continue Reading →
Posted in Gaming, Less Interesting News by Eran with 1 comment.
About Cheating
I’m not ashamed of it. I publicise it. Like recreational drugs, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it as long as you don’t hurt anyone else or destroy your internal organs. Every time I think of cheating, I remember a point when I was still in high school and my big brother’s friend’s mom managed our high school’s computer classes so we could pretty much have free reign there during the weekends. So, we went there and played Diablo from dusk until dawn. And even then I had my hands in it deep and I knew exactly how to break the game’s economy in the player’s favour (the item dupe cheat still worked wonderfully). And one weekend, while we were playing, one of my brother’s friends called me over and asked me to explain to him how I cheated. He explained his philosophy on that. He said, that he finished the game, through and through, the way it was intended and now he was interested in doing it another way. And that’s completely ok. And there are also other reasons. Right now, I cheat in games for two reasons: the main one is that I don’t have a lot of time. I’m a working man (or as one might put it, a workaholic) and I have a wife and so my gaming time is usually limited to maybe an hour before bed, an hour or two in the morning and a bit more during the weekends. I can no Continue Reading →
Posted in Gaming, Philosophy, Practice, Thinking Out Loud by Eran with comments disabled.