Hey all!
Figured we’d try something like this. Let me know what you all think, and if you have any feedback on what you would like a weekly thread like this to look like. Thanks
What are you all playing? Anything you got from the steam sale you’re enjoying?
Stray!
And I did get it from the Steam sale.
It had been on my radar for quite some time. Partly because it’s gotten such great review and partly because it’s from Annapurna, they seem to release pretty sweet games.
And it’s great! Highly recommended. :)
Kinda found that the game falls away somewhat around the final third. Don’t want to spoil anything for you, but I’ll say that I found the games moment to moment a bit lacking. Real shame as the first hour or so is genuinely pretty good.
I’ll try to remember to report back when I’ve finished it and let you know what I think!
Been playing Heaven’s Vault, a game I kept seeing recommended for people who liked Outer Wilds and Return of the Obra Dinn. There’s this big overarching mystery to solve, and a core part of the game is translating a written language. There’s limited options you’re given for what each word means, but you still have to compare symbols and use context to make deductions, it’s very cool.
Outer wilds and obra dinn? Sold 🙏
Great explanation. I’m greatly intrigued. Thanks!
Oh god yes, Heaven’s Vault is great. I love love love that the language rules are so consistent that once you learn what an individual symbol means and roughly how the order-of-operations work, you can make some very educated guesses. Especially on a second go-around, you feel like you’re making way more progress than your first playthrough.
I had been making steady progress in Expedition Rome from the sale, but then the siren song of RimWorld pulled me back again. My melee moleperson cult is going strong!
Pentiment
My favorite game is to score deals on video games and then watch my kids play them afterwards. I bought Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom on release ($70) saving by using Nintendo game vouchers (2 games for $100) purchased with Costco eShop cards ($100 value for $90). I’ve been watching my daughter play these past two weeks while combing through Steam’s summer sale. Another pro-tip is whatever game I find on sale @Steam, I can (usually) find the same game on Fanatical.com for a few dollars less and score a 5% coupon for the next puchase.
Wholesome AF, what a deal!
I cannot stop playing Oxygen Not Included. Apparently my idea of fun is simulating fluid mechanics and learning about heat transfer and gas diffusion in the middle of the night
For me, I am playing through Oblivion for the first time!
After seeing the starfield trailer I figured it was time for me to fill in this gap I had in the bethesda library. I am using some mods from the “through the valley” mod list and have been having a great time so far. The game is really goofy, but the exploration has been great so far. Also got the mods set up on my steam deck, and its been working great!
I’ve tried to get into Oblivion a few times and never stuck with it. Skyrim was my first Elder Scrolls game and it’s hard to go back.
Also open world games are kind of daunting these days… I like the idea of spending hundreds of hours exploring a game but I don’t actually have the hours to do so.
Yeah I def feel that. Having it on steam deck helps a bit though. Feel like I can chip away at it, especially during travel times
Wow, for the first time! Such a great experience. The goofiness adds charm. So many of my best and weirdest moments are from that game.
oblivion is so good, the goofiness is the biggest draw for me ^_^
I found it way too late and couldn’t get over the dated graphics, but I LOVE Skyrim. I’ve put 300 hours into it just exploring, haven’t even finished the main campaign.
i’m running psychonauts 2, really loving the level design and story and characters. it has really really good gay representation too!
I liked it, it’s certainly an improvement on the first game, but I do kind of miss the snark the first game had that set it apart from other adventure platformers. The characters, especially Raz, seem a lot less, I don’t know, jaded, cynical? I get that they probably had to tone it down a little bit because there was certainly some crap they got past the radar in the first game that probably wouldn’t fly today and they wanted to appeal to a wider (and younger) audience, but it almost makes the returning characters feel less well-rounded than they were. It’s a weird juxtaposition, but I guess some tonal shift is to be expected over 14 years.
I’ve been playing days gone a whole lot recently along with some Stardew valley and Witcher 3 and I got dark souls 2 on the sale as well
Taking a break from Diablo 4 till the season starts, played and finished Grim Fandango. Great game.
Now thinking about setting up a Minecraft server for me and my daughter.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is a blast.
Early access is more fully-baked than many full releases. The story is intriguing, and seems to react in a very flexible way to dialogue as well as actions in the world. The D&D nostalgia is awesome, and it seems that Forgotten Realms is more familiar to me than I thought.
It’s gorgeous. It feels great. It’s fun.
Fun fact: if you get the early release, you get a free upgrade to digital deluxe when it releases Aug 3 I think. Not a shill, I just love gaming.
Fire Emblem Three Houses again - So much changes between the 3 different stories in that game, it is so much bigger than I initially realized. When my partner was talking about what happened in their playthrough and it didn’t at all resemble my Golden Deer playthrough I realized I’d have to get back to it one day.
Pokemon Violet. I’m trying to complete the Pokedex as much as I can, as I try to ignore the blatant perfomance problems of the game 😅 But I really like the game and its open world nature.
It’s so irritating that S/V could have been the definitive Pokemon experience but it ended up being what it was. I guess I can’t really blame them for not putting the effort. I mean why should they when everyone bought it anyway (I did too, I’m part of the problem)
I guess for me there was so much fun to be had grinding out an optimized team by breeding and training them up, and the new games sort of trivialized all of that. Totally understand why, but it took a lot out of it for me.
The open world in them is nice initially, but imo they failed to make exploration rewarding enough, so really it’s like… What’s the point.
I still like catching 'em all but it even seems like they’ve de-emphasized that.
Sorry to rant just an old Pokemon fan who can’t really move on.
Cyberpunk 2077. It’s been ages since I actually decided to pick up an RPG and get into it. I’m enjoying it so much.
Hey!
From the Steam Sale, some casual games about playing with the odds:
- Peglin is quite fun and short. The more pegs you hit, the more it damages an enemy. Highly replayable with all the modifiers making each game unique.
- Roll is similar, modifying dice to get the highest score in 2500 rolls. There is way more complex calculations, but I like how messy it gets.
From the ones already on the library, just Hollow Knight which has been a delightful yet frustrating experience. The soundtrack is stunning, and I love me some platforming challenge.
Ohhhh yeah peglin is solid. I have also checked out round guard which is a similar idea but has some differences too. I like the aesthetics of peglin more but I think the gameplay of round guard is more fun. You should check it out!
