Remember when Elon Musk called that diver a pedo and got sued because it wasn’t true?

Saying malicious things that aren’t true is slander. Simple math.

So slander is cool? You seem to think that slander is cool.

My understanding is that the game is a surrealist-horror social commentary, like something David Lynch would do. I see a lot of people in these comments making some very wild claims and assumptions based on a build the developers were coerced into putting together early in development and which does not actually exist. The developers know they are pushing boundaries and that is the whole point, they even said they would change anything if Valve requested it since the build they were told to send was so early and quickly assembled. Instead, Valve gave no feedback at all and blacklisted them without recourse.

Since Steam is effectively a monopoly - though earned on merits instead of anticompetitiveness - being rejected without recourse or discussion is a death sentence and Valve should not have that power. Generally, I am violently opposed to anyone having the ability to dictate what qualifies as art, but when it’s a company that has captured an entire market crushing an indie developer for being too avante-garde while that company actively distributes basic porn, I must call bullshit. This is an abuse of their monopoly and it needs to be called out and punished.

I don’t have the stomach to play it, but I bought a copy on GOG to support the devs. As a consumer I prefer GOG, but for developers, being blocked from Steam is death. Potentially literal death, since we are discussing peoples livelihoods.

It’s not a game yet. You must have a high tolerance for serious problems and no expectation of making any kind of personal “progress.” But if you go in for the vibes and have others to vibe with, there is nothing else like it.

I pop in once or twice a year to see the progress. It’s been a long road, but progress is being made. Someday it will be a real game, I just don’t know if I’ll live to see it. 😅

P.S. Never bother with “free fly” events. Their servers can’t take it. I’m surprised they still do those since the experience gets so bad that it must be turn off more people than it sells.

FYI, it’s working great for me on Cachy right now.

I personally think that Proton has ended the need for Linux-native builds, but I wouldn’t be opposed to Linux native games that skip Windows entirely.

Chromatic aberration and film grain. If your game has either of those and no way to turn them off, I wish you a slow, painful death and I will probably refund it.

Anything from Paradox, but right now it’s Europa Univeralis V. I really like some of their grand strategy staples, even if it’s an abusive relationship where they sometimes release updates that make the games worse and annoy you into buying overpriced DLC to make the last update slightly less bad. The new Crusader Kings 3 DLC is excellent, though. I hope they do more like that.

Even on sale their second-run PC releases are more expensive than what I would normally tolerate for a new full game. Then there is Stellar Blade, which is also infected with Denuvo malware. They could be doing much better.

Ori. Both of them.

They are works of high art.

Maybe they’ll give it to The Chinese Room who will turn it into a walking simulator with a smidge of awful, repetitive combat mixed in.

E33 is the only game to have ever made me ugly-cry, and it did it multiple times. That alone secures it a place in my personal pantheon. I didn’t love the combat system, but I will admit that’s because I have never liked JRPG systems, and I eventually grew to be okay with it. The game was a work of art and passion that we rarely ever see, and that came through.

A seller doesn’t get to walk in your home, hand you a check and take your couch. The same should not be allowed for digital goods. A voluntary refund should never revoke ownership rights. But we don’t actually have ownership rights any more, do we? Or any rights.

They are also hellbent on infecting everything they touch with Denuvo malware. I haven’t bought anything of theirs in years for that reason alone.

I am not sure anybody is surprised, but I am happy to see so much solidarity.

I’m hoping that that ARM support on the new VR headset means a Steam Phone may be in the works.

Steam does a lot of shitty things — including using gambling mechanics on kids and failing to moderate the neo-nazi clubhouse that are their forums — but they are not a monopoly and do not behave in a monopolistic or anticompetitive manner whatsoever. Their success and market share is genuinely earned on merits.

Personally, I would prefer GOG, but many games don’t release there, or release there much later. Epic could compete, but their heart is clearly not in it as they refuse to give customers features they want out of a platform and do engage in anticompetitive practices.

I still enjoyed Elden Ring, but I agree completely. I prefer the metroidvania world design of earlier From Software games. The sense of progression is one of the best parts of those games, and Elden Ring’s open world robs the it of a lot of the magic of earlier titles, where discoveries were around every corner and in every nook and cranny. I never felt the same joy of exploration and hard won progress as I did in Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro.

There was a time when I could not have imagined liking those kinds of games. My partner got me Dark Souls Prepare to Die Edition and I hated it. Hate may be too kind a word for how I felt. I’ve always loved metroidvanias and the style seemed right up my gothy, witchy alley, but I couldn’t get past the first basic zombie.

Then we watched a bunch of videos and realized that the game was designed to be played slowly and deliberately. There were no “junk” enemies and paying careful attention at all times was the game. When it clicked, it clicked, and now From Software games are my favorite.

Remaining developers have begun openly protesting the company.

https://www.dexerto.com/gta/protests-erupt-at-rockstar-games-offices-accusing-gta-6-developers-of-union-busting-3280277/

Fairphone has partnered with Amazon. They are no longer remotely fair. Look elsewhere if you want ethical hardware.

If you are organizing a union NEVER EVER use company controlled channels to communicate about it. This is organizing 101.

At the same time, make sure that whatever you do use is private and secure. Union reps will warn you about how companies spy, and it is not paranoia.

That is exactly what happened. All corporations operate like this. They know what they are doing is illegal, so they just use words to warp reality however they like. It’s the Republican strategy.

I am looking forward to Light No Fire and have played countless hours of Minecraft and Star Citizen.

“Too big” doesn’t exist as long as I am enjoying myself.

I asked about them earlier this evening and was considering getting their new printer. I didn’t really need one, anyway. They just seem fun.

You know what isn’t fun? Genocide. Fuck genocide supporters.

I played a little of the open beta. It was an interesting concept, but it was very dull and the PvP was toxic and a turnoff. I won’t be playing again.

Icarus is solid and Kitten Space Agency appears to be coming along nicely.

It’s very easy to uninstall.

Step 1: Download Bazzite
Step 2: Install Bazzite
Step 3: Erase Windows

That’s all there is to it.

I don’t want to tell others what to do with their art, but I would certainly appreciate that. For every PvPvE game if they replaced the human opponents with NPCs I would probably be happy. I avoid PvP games. There is enough toxicity in the world without willingly subjecting myself to something that has been specifically created to generate toxic situations and behavior.

I don’t understand PvP. In games like this it’s toxic by design and I don’t understand how that is supposed to be fun for anyone. It makes me concerned for society that games specifically designed to ruin someone else’s day are this popular.

It’s a shame. I tried it last night and it has a lot of good ideas and atmosphere, but it was ruined for me by the one thing that ruins every game in this genre, PvP.

I would eat up a purely co-op version of this, even if other humans were replaced with NPCs, but I don’t have the stomach or tolerance for any kind of PvP.

I’ll buy it just to support this ideologically. The graphics look like one of those old TTRPG map maker programs, which I love.

GamePassBox is not popular while people struggle to afford even the basic costs of living? Who could have predicted this?

This is a dream come true. I just need someone to do this for Alpha Centauri and I can die happy.

Steam needs to shut down their forums. It’s clear they have no intention of moderating them and they are so incredibly toxic, hateful, and disgusting that I feel bad about using the platform at all.

I love that indie games are eating greedy corporations lunches. Growth isn’t slowing as an industry, growth is slowing for the parasites as regular people reclaim their equity.

Whoops.

I stopped using them a long time ago. Since they don’t seem interested in moderating their own forums in the slightest, Valve should really shut them all down. The Steam forums are such cesspits of hate speech, bigotry, and toxicity that I actually feel dirty every time I buy a game on Steam. That is not okay.

That one universal linux is Fedora, or OpenSuse, or Debian, or Pop_OS. Take your pick. They are all excellent daily drivers.

I recommend Bazzite to gamers. If you primarily play games, there is no reason to look at anything else.

If you want more control and like to experiment, try one of the above distros I mentioned. I like Fedora and constantly come back to it, but any Linux with KDE Plasma is going to be fine for most people. I am very excited for the upcoming version of Pop_OS with the Cosmic desktop beta. There is a strong chance that becomes my go-to once that releases, since it has the good parts of Ubuntu and none of the bad ones.

Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Xubuntu are the only ones I tell people to avoid. Also, avoid Arch until you get really into Linux and crave complete control.

I was trying to figure out whether it was a complete experience on its own. @[email protected] clarified that it’s a remake of the first game in a trilogy. I was concerned it was being released episodically and I’ve been burned on incomplete episodic releases too many times.

Thank you, that’s what I was trying to figure out. I’m guessing that the worst case scenario is that I can play the originals if they don’t remake the sequels. I think I’ll pick this up. I could use a good story-based single player game.