My philosophy is that Civ 5 and Civ 6 are just fine. My friend was going to buy 7 on release and I was like “yeah, but you can just go play Civ 6. It’s not like it’s a bad game just because the new one is out.” And I’m glad I convinced him otherwise because of how “okay” Civ 7 has been so far. Nothing against the game, I just already have the last three Civ games with all DLC and there is still a mountain of content that we already have to play with each other.

And in a week, 500 - 2000 people will get laid off to “save money.”

This article feels like it was written by someone that has never gamed on PC and they gave almost zero examples of how Steam is declining besides gaming on Mac and their 30% cut. As someone that has been a PC gamer since the early 2000’s, they underestimate the ubiquity that Steam has. If it’s not on Steam some people will refuse to buy it all together. Not even as a boycott but just because they want all their games in one place.

There will always be alternatives, and I agree that’s a good thing, but Steam basically already cornered the market. Unless someone provides a service that isn’t just different but actually better for consumers than Steam, they will stay on top. Doesn’t matter about exclusivity, free games, or how much of a cut they take. From the perspective of the consumer, Steam is the best option.

And this isn’t just me fan-boying for Steam. I have plenty of issues with them. I just happen to have a lot more issues with the alternatives. The only exception I’d make is GOG. Their launcher is kinda meh, but I enjoy the lack of DRM. Now if GOG had an app and social aspect similar to Steam, that’d be a game changer.

Time to act like an old man yelling at a cloud as I try and convince all my friends to go somewhere else. Not that it isn’t a good idea, just that they don’t really care as much as I do.

I played the first play test and it was extremely disappointing compared to the first game. I played like 10 matches and never opened it again. Hopefully this alpha is better and they’ve made some improvements.

What blows my mind is that when it comes to costs I feel like voice actors are probably less than 5% of the budget on a video game. Unless they hire a famous actor I can’t imagine this being that worthwhile. It’s just penny pinching.

Man, if the new Assassin’s Creed isn’t a banger Ubisoft is cooked. They’ve had nothing but flops for the past 4 years or so. Even the newer Far Cry games kinda flopped.

You know shits bad when you start missing lootboxes. I guess when the alternative was skins that cost more than the original game, you’ll take what you can get. Deep down Overwatch is a good game with good mechanics. But Jesus Christ, fuck Overwatch.

Is it gonna be an actual upgrade or just AI upscaling of textures? Cuz I remember what they did with StarWars Battlefront 1 & 2 as they just upscaled textures and fucked everything else up.

Everyone always praises 3 but I grew up playing 2. I have nothing against HoMM 3 and enjoy it quite a bit, I just prefer HoMM 2 when I wanna get that nostalgia kick.

Still, amazing games.

BLASTED

The GPUs yearn for the crypto mines.

Yeah but he PC port just came out yesterday, I think.

And then they wait for everyone to buy their games before they bring it back. Not saying it will happen. Just that it might.

My GPU can do ray-tracing and that’s usually the first thing I turn off because it absolutely destroys performance for minimal effect. I think ray-tracing is cool and all, but I don’t really care when it makes most games run like shit. I thought Elden Ring was poorly optimized until I turned it off and than BAM 120fps no problem.

Honestly if it has to be enabled, as much as I love the Doom games, this’ll be a pass for me. Smooth combat doesn’t mean shit when it stutters every 2 seconds.

As much as I like putting limitations on lootboxes or banning them out right, I’ve seen what developers do when they can’t use lootboxes. $20 to $30 “micro” transactions with predatory menus and game mechanics that make you feel bad for not owning the latest hotness. They will do anything to make that microtransaction money regardless. They’ll just take advantage of a different part of your brain.

I don’t even know what a God of War live service game would be like but I can’t imagine it would be good.

These guys know they don’t have to interact with shit they don’t like right? If a game has something you don’t like not only do you not have to play the game, but nobody is going to force you to do it. It’s not like they were gonna play it anyway.

Fantastic game but lemme tell ya, the controls for that game did not age well. I’ve tried to go back and play it, even on an emulator where I can customize the controls, and it is baffling how unintuitive the controls are on modern controllers. It worked when the N64 controller was considered good. But with how controllers have evolved it’s basically unplayable no matter how it’s configured.

It will literally never happen, but a remaster would be sick.

Hey! I almost forgot about this when I left Reddit. I was so excited to see it come to fruition some day. I’d love to beta test but I’ve moved to an office job since then so I probably won’t be able to help much.

It was a pretty fun game, but I’m not surprised either. I think the last time I looked the game only had like 15 active players on Steam which is a shame. This is why I hate the idea of “online only” games because now nobody will be able to play it.

Cool, I’m down. But I’d be much happier if you just made a new Warcraft game. Playing the old ones for nostalgia only lasts a few hours before getting boring.

I don’t think it will ever fizzle out. I do a playthrough of it at least once a year and I’ve convinced at least 7 other people to buy it or I’ve bought it for them. It’s honestly timeless and has been since I bought it day one. Even without the updates and added content it would be and has been my favorite game and I’ve bought it at least 10 times for different platforms and for friends. It’s the kinda game that somehow makes you feel nostalgic from the first time you play it to the fifteenth. Even talking about it makes me wanna go play it again even though I’m in the middle of Ghost of Tsushima.

I feel like they’re doing this because they are going so hard with steam deck. Regardless, good on Valve for doing this.

It’s definitely different, but not in a bad way. I’d say the gameplay is very similar to Persona 5 in all the best ways, but also different in all the best ways. As for the story line, I’m not super far in but it’s super interesting and always keeps you guessing about what’s actually going on. I definitely recommend it.

Also thanks again for that invite to Deadlock, internet stranger. I’ve been enjoying that game entirely too much. 😅

I’d love to finally see Persona 6, but at the same time I’m down for anything. I’ve only had enough time to play Metaphor ReFantazio for about 20 hours or so but I’m really enjoying it a lot. Probably gonna end up replaying a bunch of Atlus games when I’m done too. Every time I play a new game by them I end up replaying all the older ones.

Wtf even is Fortnite at this point? I’ve played it a couple times here and there but every time I hear news I just get more confused. I’m honestly surprised it still has the massive amount of players that it has. I haven’t heard any kids even talk about it lately and basically nobody my age plays it anymore.

Well, I enjoyed the game when it first came out. I don’t have a PlayStation anymore so I’m excited to play it on PC… When it’s on sale. I’m not paying full price for a game I’ve already played before.

I’m still waiting for it to change my life.

But also with GOG you can download the installers and play offline. It’s literally one of their big selling points. It’s less convenient than things like steam, but you can do whatever the hell you want when you buy it. So in that regard, it literally is a purchase. Or as close as you can get with digital goods.

As I did with every other Rockstar game I have ever paid for, I’ll get it on sale. I’ve never really been a hardcore fan anyway. And I have such a backlog of games that by the time I’d get around to playing it, it will probably be on sale.

I’d rather own the games that I pay for than “rent” them in the first place. Sure, this is useful. But it doesn’t really solve the issue of not owning anything you buy these days. If anything this will just give them an excuse when they decide to take games you paid for away from you.

Until they start charging only money for the battle passes. I never even used 80% of the skins I got on the battle passes anyway. I just wanted them so I didn’t not have them. As someone that has over 2,000 hours in Apex, I’m so glad I jumped ship. The grass was very green on the other side.

I cannot tell you how much better my mental health has been since I stopped playing Apex Legends, Overwatch, and Rocket League. I never had anything against the gameplay of these games but the microtransactions and battle passes were just straight up toxic. After a couple weeks you simply don’t give a shit anymore and it’s amazing. I see my roommate playing these games until 3 AM every day because he has to do his daily challenges for 4 different games. He’ll be so pissed off that he can barely speak as he powers through game after game to get them done so he can go to bed. And in hindsight, that’s probably what I used to look like back when I played those games.

I’ve already played the game once. I’ll wait for it to go on sale if I wanna play a “remaster.”

Kind of a nothing article, but I say just let them cook. Baldur’s Gate 3 was the game that pushed them into the spotlight better than any game they’ve made. And now people are going back to play their old games and realizing they are great games in their own right. They opened up a genre of gaming to people that would have never even considered it. You can’t accomplish all that without feeling an immense amount of pressure. Even if the next game isn’t on par with Baldur’s Gate 3, I’m just glad they are still doing what they do.

I’ve never played it, so I wouldn’t know. I’m just going off friends that play it and reputation.

Same with No Man’s Sky. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but they buckled down and delivered on almost every promise that they failed on back at release. Not only that but every update since the game came out has been for free. Both No Man’s Sky and Cyberpunk are fantastic games, and they were garbage on release. Bethesda has been doing the opposite approach and avoiding feedback from fans since Skyrim came out the first time.

Gross.

It’s because the games are mid or worse. Took me one google search to find a plethora of games released in the last few years that had high budgets and sold very well. God of War: Ragnarok, Ghost of Tsushima, Elden Ring, Horizon: Forbidden West, Doom Eternal, Hogwarts Legacy, Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, The Last Of Us Part II, and so many more. These are just the ones I played. Just because the only game you guys make is Fortnite after abandoning all your IPs and that your Epic Games Store money isn’t as high as you thought it would be doesn’t mean other people aren’t making amazing games. It’s just you, my guy. I consider myself a patient gamer and I’ve bought more full price games over the last 5 years than I ever have.