That daily game progress thread...

[ugly]

Shovel Knight.

It largely look and plays like a NES platformer. So it's solid fun. Although not particularly difficult.

They packed a lot of content into this game. After all the expansions they gave for free they have 4 different main quests. Although there is a lot of similarity in the levels, enemies and bosses in the expansions. Still, if you want to go completionist with all achievements, it's probably about 20 hours per main quest.

I don't know why but I always complain about how stupid achievements are and all they end up doing is padding gameplay time after the point where you're sick of the game. But still, I end up going for most of them. So, doing all the achievements I ended up dumping a decent amount of playing time into this one.

Worth playing if you like the retro platforming style of game.

[theshadowcult]

I don't know why but I always complain about how stupid achievements are and all they end up doing is padding gameplay time after the point where you're sick of the game. But still, I end up going for most of them. So, doing all the achievements I ended up dumping a decent amount of playing time into this one.

Worth playing if you like the retro platforming style of game.

agreed, the only time ive ever seen achievements done well was in both star ocean till the end of time and vindictous. the former gave costumes a stuff as rewards for doing them and the later gave stat boosts.

[ugly]

Since there was some talk about playing the classic Doom games again.

There is now Doom Raytraced:
[yt]i2Ld9YNUWls[/yt]

[theshadowcult]

i love doom 1 and 2, but honestly, i think the best version of doom 1 i ever played was the mod for doom 3.

[KAC]

Started boning weird west on gamepass. Game like dope.

[Silent-Runner]

Slashing my way through Tunic. Man, that game is tough at times, but at the same time great.

[ugly]

Odallus: The Dark Call

Another retro-inspired action-platformer. It feels similar to an NES-era Castlevania game.

It's okay, and quite short. The first time through would probably take about 5 hours. If you want to go for all the achievements, it's about a 15 hours.

There isn't a whole lot of strategy in the combat. You can basically slash, move, or use a sub-weapon. There is no dodge or anything like that. So the combat ends up feeling like you either slash like crazy and take damage, or hit and run away. And your character isn't very agile to run away, so you need to time it well.

The game is decently difficult. Nothing crazy. The game has powerup items (the standard double-jump, etc.) that you need to progress. Oddly, some of them are in secret areas that if you can't manage to find, would stop all progress.

It has a hard mode, that is actually a fun hard mode. You play the same levels again, but the collectable items are in different spots, there is different enemy placement and there are new enemy types. It actually makes it worth playing through again with a different challenge, instead of just making the enemies a bunch of damage sponges.

Overall, a fun, low budget game with a short time committment. But nothing special.

[theshadowcult]

That sunds great. im gonna try it while its on game pass then

[twonha]

I've put Valheim aside, and started Horizon: Zero Dawn. One of the big open world games of recent years, but I've really kept myself in the dark as I don't know much more than "hot chick fights robo dinosaurs, maybe". A few hours in, it's very reminiscent of the current Assassin's Creed games, without the bagage of being an AC game. It's a little below the production qualities of TLOU2, God of War and Red Dead Rememption 2, but it's got its own unique flavor going on, so let's see where it takes me.

[Silent-Runner]

played Space Punks Open Beta (EGS) for a few hours, already getting bored to tears. Same old same old.

[Silent-Runner]

back to playing The eternal cylinder. What a great freaky lil gem.

[theshadowcult]

back to playing The eternal cylinder. What a great freaky lil gem.

thats the one thats like a better spore right?

[Silent-Runner]

thats the one thats like a better spore right?

well, yes in a way it is. Although there's no real evolution in it, only mutations you can choose that will aid you with terrain, quests and so on. It's certainly not for everyone.

[ugly]

Played through the new character (Aurora) on Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

I like the game, so it was nice to revisit. But, like all the bonus characters, it was a lesser version of the game. It strips out a lot of the content (no shops, very few upgrades, you only gain a few skills throughout, not much dialogue). While it does have some standard Metroidvania character advancement to progress through the map, there are only a couple. And you gain the ability to fly around everywhere, which means the whole map is open to you very early. But you still have to go through the same general order as in the standard game otherwise you will run into enemies that are too hard until you level up. No changes to the map or the bosses.

This one was just too easy. Your secondary attack you can just rapid fire and smoke most enemies and bosses. So most of the game is trivial. It ends up being basically a speed run.

On one hand, it was nice to give a game I like a quick revisit. But, on the other hand, if I was going to revisit the game, I would have rather played the original character.

[Mangler]

Finished Borderlands 3, it was a real struggle, I don't think I've ever hated the story and characters in a game as much as those in this game.

**** them all, they are so obnoxious that they get impossible to ignore.

[KAC]

Finished Borderlands 3, it was a real struggle, I don't think I've ever hated the story and characters in a game as much as those in this game.

**** them all, they are so obnoxious that they get impossible to ignore.

You should play Tiny Tina’s Wonderland.

[Silent-Runner]

playing Ravenous Devils. Man, that's a sick game....

[nutcrackr]

Finished Winter Ember. Isometric stealth game a bit like Thief. Game was okay but it has a lot of promise that never comes to fruition.

[theshadowcult]

playing Ravenous Devils. Man, that's a sick game....

Never could get into stories like sweeny todd. glad it's good though, looks like its pretty special.... or did you mean sick like in ****ed up?

[twonha]

Playing Dorfromantik:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1455840/Dorfromantik/

Relaxing minimalistic city builder, similar to Islanders. I think I liked Islanders better, because there is slightly more of a campaign to it, but both are exceptionally suited for some calm, late night gaming to smoothen out the day.

[Dave]

Finished Solasta: Crown of the Magister last night. Been playing with two other friends in the new multiplayer mode. Fantastic game. If you love Dungeons and Dragons - this is the game for you. 50 hours to beat the campaign. Still have the DLC campaign to go through and there's quality campaigns being released on the workshop.

[Silent-Runner]

Never could get into stories like sweeny todd. glad it's good though, looks like its pretty special.... or did you mean sick like in ****ed up?

well, it's kinda f*cked up if you slaughter people to make meat pies out of them right? That asside it's surprisngly well done for a 3 bucks game.

[Silent-Runner]

Playing Dorfromantik:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1455840/Dorfromantik/

Relaxing minimalistic city builder, similar to Islanders. I think I liked Islanders better, because there is slightly more of a campaign to it, but both are exceptionally suited for some calm, late night gaming to smoothen out the day.

yep, it's a very calming experience.

[Mangler]

Reached the hall of fame in forza horizon 5.

What a weird campaign, you can basically reach it just by doing the showcases and the open world challenges, so you hardly have to do any real racing in order to "finish" the game.

[KAC]

Reached the hall of fame in forza horizon 5.

What a weird campaign, you can basically reach it just by doing the showcases and the open world challenges, so you hardly have to do any real racing in order to "finish" the game.

They did tilt too much for flexibility. Least amount of time I spent in any Forza game recently because of this bullshit. However, the game is still dope af and I routinely revisit it.

[theshadowcult]

unfortunately, it was lorded as the best racing game, so forza h 6 is going to be along the same lines or worse :/

[nutcrackr]

Reached the hall of fame in forza horizon 5.

What a weird campaign, you can basically reach it just by doing the showcases and the open world challenges, so you hardly have to do any real racing in order to "finish" the game.

Yeah I think the story needed a stronger set of races for the "main" story. Felt a bit aimless and scattered.

[twonha]

Friend of mine, who is really in love with the game, bought me Elden Ring. I appreciate the gesture, but I really wasn't planning on getting into ER at all since I never gelled with Dark Souls. Here's hoping for the best!

[theshadowcult]

Friend of mine, who is really in love with the game, bought me Elden Ring. I appreciate the gesture, but I really wasn't planning on getting into ER at all since I never gelled with Dark Souls. Here's hoping for the best!

To help enjoy the game more, i strongly suggest reading this the start of the game will tell you to follow the graces. at the grace called the first step, you will see a knight on a horse and a church. Go to the church of elleh and ignore the knight. after the church of elleh head north along the road and you will encounter a ruin and soldiers patrolling it. both to the left and to the right of the ruin are two more graces, rest at the one on the right along the road, called agheel lake north.

doing that you will meet someone who gives you a mount. after that, go back to the church of elleh at night (you can change the time at the graces) and there should be a witch sitting on the wall. she will give you the ability to summon ashes to help you. You can use them all over the place, as well as at bosses, and they will help iensely when fights get to tough to handle alone.

you should be able to work out the co-op with other players your self easy enough)

[azalea]

Friend of mine, who is really in love with the game, bought me Elden Ring. I appreciate the gesture, but I really wasn't planning on getting into ER at all since I never gelled with Dark Souls. Here's hoping for the best!

I hated Dark Souls and could barely beat DS3's first boss Iodex. So, I don't know why I bought Elden Ring.

Steam says my Elden Ring play time is now 373 hours.

[Silent-Runner]

I hated Dark Souls and could barely beat DS3's first boss Iodex. So, I don't know why I bought Elden Ring.

Steam says my Elden Ring play time is now 373 hours.

i think you could try now to beat the first enemy

[Meteor_of_War]

Friend of mine, who is really in love with the game, bought me Elden Ring. I appreciate the gesture, but I really wasn't planning on getting into ER at all since I never gelled with Dark Souls. Here's hoping for the best!

The game is much easier than most (all?) of the other Souls games, as azalea hinted to above. Also easier to get hooked on. Simple reason being, its true open world this time so you are never stuck in one area by a wall of progression (that is, a tough boss for example). Run into a too tough area? Just go elsewhere and find an easier path until you are strong enough, then come back.

They really did make the challenge of the game much more accessible for everyone to play, while still keeping the same traditional difficulty they are known for, simply by going open world. It still will have an initial learning curve as always, but just make use of some early game tips like the ones theshadowcult gave and you'll be on your way.

[theshadowcult]

of cousre, if you are stubborn like me, you just beat your head against the wall until it goes down anyway!

[Mangler]

I managed to make elden ring harder than any of the previous souls titles by tackling the mid-game areas before the early game areas.

I broke a lot of side-quests by doing that.

[Meteor_of_War]

I managed to make elden ring harder than any of the previous souls titles by tackling the mid-game areas before the early game areas.

I broke a lot of side-quests by doing that.

I think its a testament to good open-ended game design that they allow the player to do this.

Nothing that blocks the player from trying later game areas in the early game, and no enemy level scaling to the player's level. I appreciate that in an RPG, as it respects the player in making their own choice.

[YellowBeard]

Been mixing my time between Jedi Fallen Order and Horizon Zero Dawn Forbidden West.

Not gonna lie. Not seeing why everyone is head over heels for Fallen Order. I mean, it's good for a Star Wars game, but exploration is a chore thanks to those ****ing slides that don't allow backtracking. Would have greatly benefited from a quick travel system between meditation points. Combat is underwhelming.

Forbidden West is HZD again, but that's a good thing. Still a good time. Exploration is fun, fighting robots is fun. Feeling like it jumped the shark with The dudes with the force fields and what not. Kinda eye rolly there, but I'm not that far along in the story to really know though. Still probably the weakest aspect so far. Rampant AI is more fun that Space Libertarians, but we'll see. Liked the auxiliary story beats a little more in the first one so far. Hope it doesn't turn into a Surge 2 situation for me. ****ing loved the story of Surge 1 and the second one soured me so much I stopped playing.

[Mangler]

Finished Trek to Yomi, 5/10.

Everything after chapter 3 was a chore.

[twonha]

I've put Valheim aside, and started Horizon: Zero Dawn. One of the big open world games of recent years, but I've really kept myself in the dark as I don't know much more than "hot chick fights robo dinosaurs, maybe". A few hours in, it's very reminiscent of the current Assassin's Creed games, without the bagage of being an AC game. It's a little below the production qualities of TLOU2, God of War and Red Dead Rememption 2, but it's got its own unique flavor going on, so let's see where it takes me.

I'm quite a ways in now, having opened up about three quarters of the map. HZD is a good game, but so far, it's done nothing stellar. It really feels like a precurser to Assassin's Creed: Origins. Large open map, but relatively little to do there but run around and fight the dinosaur robots, take down a bandit camp, or take quests where you follow the markers and then kill the bandits and dinosaur robots. Which is cool, occasionally. Looks better than it plays.

I'll be looking to finish this quickly, then move on to Elden Ring.

[twonha]

I'm quite a ways in now, having opened up about three quarters of the map. HZD is a good game, but so far, it's done nothing stellar. It really feels like a precurser to Assassin's Creed: Origins. Large open map, but relatively little to do there but run around and fight the dinosaur robots, take down a bandit camp, or take quests where you follow the markers and then kill the bandits and dinosaur robots. Which is cool, occasionally. Looks better than it plays.

I'll be looking to finish this quickly, then move on to Elden Ring.

"Quickly", I said. Took me another week and a half, apparently.

[ugly]

Broforce

A fun side-scroller shooter. Pixel art. I'd say similar graphics to something like Super Meat Boy or Fez.

The theme of the game is a mix of 80s action and hyper Americanism played for comedy. You collect various Bros as your characters. Each one taken from an action movie franchise. They have cute names that play on Bro. So things like Rambro, Brobocop, Indiana Brones, etc. And some that are more of a reach like the Bromanator. Each Bro has a slightly different play style and abilities. Some are melee attacks. But mostly you're just shooting things.

The gameplay is supposed to be chaotic. There are chain reaction explosions, which occasionally blow yourself up or cause something to randomly crush you. I only played single player, but I imagine that would be more fun in a multiplayer game, sort of similar to the chaos in the Magicka games.

Overall, the game is fun and not particularly time-consuming (I had the GOG version, which doesn't have achievements). There isn't really much of a penalty for dying, so you don't need a ton of skill, and can beat it with persistence. Hard is more difficult, but again you can beat it with a bit of persistence.

The downside to the game is that there is a lot of randomness to it. You can't pick which Bro you play as - it's random each time you spawn. Some of the Bros kind of suck, which can make a level harder. You gain lives by rescuing Bros in a stage, but whenever you rescue a Bro you re-roll which one you play as, which means going for an extra life can mean switching from a good Bro to a shitty one.

While the main game is fairly easy, there is an Iron Bro mode where each one of your Bros has perma-death and you lose all progress if you run out of Bros. That mode is, unfortunately a bit too difficult. Because of the randomness and the chaos it's too easy to die. And one run of bad luck can wipe you out pretty easily.

It's a fun game if it's cheap or free.