I am generally unwilling to pay extra for features I don’t need and didn’t ask for.

Dreamfall Chapters was the first game where I stopped and thought for 15 minutes about a choice I needed to make, and its implications.

Life is Strange, LiS: Before The Storm, and LiS: True Colors, hve a special place in my heart for their deeply engrossing and moving stories, and for really getting me to care about the characters and their fates.

The first Witcher game was one that drew me in so much that I immediately started a second playthrough upon finishing the first. I have never done that with any other game.

Hardspace: Shipbreakers stuck with me for being such an excellent melange of complex puzzle, industrial accident simulator, and poignant satire on the state of labour in late stage capitalism.

Depending on your SLA, 3 minutes can be a pretty big chunk of your monthly error budget.

So be authentic to the universe. Be authentic to the lore. Nobody knows what ‘authentically American’ will look like in fifty plus years. And it’s still a fictitious city. There is no need for details to conform with any particular city of today, American or not.

I don’t need a game that’s set in a fictional future and world to be ‘authentically American’.

Lots of very roundabout ‘the game isn’t difficult, you just need to get good at it’ replies in this thread, trying hard not to say the quiet part out loud…

I noticed the other day when I accidentally logged in with a different account. Confused the shit out of me. Obviously this is all about presenting ‘related content’ more prominently and driving that engagement.

Strange how I’ve been using wired headphones with my phones until two years ago, even though I haven’t had a phone with a headphone jack since 2017…

Road 96 has quite a bit of replay ability as you’re unlikely to get 100% of all stories on the first playthrough.

If you want good sales you need to do something innovative and interesting, or something cliché but really well done.

Or a recognisable brand. Starfield got panned and still sold oodles.

Taking a look at Doom 2016 (also a single player shooter)

Case in point. Doom has a lot riding on its name and legacy, and many people will buy it just because of that.

Unlike many people in this thread, I actually have heard of the game. The makers of a podcast I follow loved it, and had the head of the studio on their show for a pretty frank interview, too. When I learned that there was a free demo, I decided I would give the game a try some time.

And in light of the overwhelming negativity in this thread, I did so last night. And what can I say? I spent an hour and change going through the prologue, the training and the first battle sequence, and I really enjoyed it. Movement and shooting slinging magic are great fun, with a diversity of spells available pretty much from the get-go. Just shoot, or throw a massive armor-breaking spell at a wave of enemies, or use a lash to pull a remote enemy close and whack them. I wouldn’t have know what to expect from the ‘CoD with magic’ premise but it’s really enjoyable so far.

The voice acting is very good, and while the facial animations are a bit uncanny valley, I am enjoying the snarky dialogues and matching facial expressions. Gina Torres has presence, and the rest of the cast so far blends in fine.

I will definitely spend some more time with the demo, and if it doesn’t annoy me too much, I might just buy this. And that seems to be the feedback the devs got from many people - once players actually get their hands on it, they actually enjoy it. According ton the studio head, sales have picked up towards Christmas, and they’ve been getting a lot of conversions from the free demo.

She’s one person influencing millions, if not billions, that’s for sure. She’s not some random author, she is one of the most well known personalities of the 20th and 21st century. Her opinions carry weight, as misguided as that may be on the part of her followers.

I’d partially agree with you if we were talking about some random who has sold a few hundred kindle copies of their book on Amazon and is spewing nonsense. And even then I’d call for people to not support that author in any way shape or form. JKR is however hugely influential, and that absolutely should matter when it comes to deciding who you give your money to.

I suggest you do your own research then. From everything I’ve read, JKR is a horrible person and virulently anti-trans. There are a lot of ways to br horrific without outright calling for people’s deaths.

She actively campaigns against trans rights and has said that if you buy her stuff, you support her position.

Also, the erstwhile lead designer was a far right agitator.

Was going to say, the PC Gamer bit is bad enough, but how do you write a rebuttal without mentioning two of the arguably most accomplished influential women in gaming, namely Roberta Williams and Jane Jensen?