What have you been playing?

[PK'EZ-54]

Do you know what's a good game? Of course you do.

[TinnedEpic]

I've been checking out a few of the indie titles in the Indie gaming section of the forum actually. Some good ones in there, indie games are great .

[Pezi]

Moved on from "Papers Please!" (Great game), now playing La-Mulana. Old-school, pixely, metroidvania, perma-death, HARD.

 

I read reviews and saw that it was hard, but I didn't expect it to be THIS hard. There are almost no hints at all (to find out the controls I had to go to options, keybindings), no explanation as to how to "win" or even open treasure chests, haha. I am currently loving this difficulty though, makes the game more fun.

 

(There's one hut with a village elder in it who in the beginning explains to you who you are and why you're there. If youenter and exit the hut he says different things every time. If you're like me and are hoping for a hint, he eventually will be seen playing a video game saying "This game has TOO many hints. Now where's the fun in that?")

[ianopolos]

Im waiting for December and release of Dead State its turn based game RPG similar to State of Decay that is also coming to pc this year.

Some indie games beta i tried its Gnomoria its like Dwarf fortress.

Also i tried demo of BloodLust Vampire: ShadowHunter and it looks like Vampire: Masquerade game.

Xenonauts still not finished but looks like remake of X-com.

And i cant wait for turn based game Age of Discovery also at end of year.

[DrummerKidJack]

I played the beta of Papers, Please, and I thought it was great! Also, Rath, if you like DF now, just wait until you get into the modding community too

[Nachtfischer]

I finally managed to really get into Outwitters. And I LOVE it. Here's why:

Elegance: The basic rules are really simple and clear, therefore very easy to learn. No tons of unit types or special abilities. No items at all. No scrolling. Simply because the game doesn't need that "stuff". It manages to create an immense emergent complexity rarely seen these days (especially in so called "videogames"). Tactical twists and possibilities open up all the time. It's  really amazing!

Efficiency: There is no time wasted at all in this game. Every single decision is important and interesting. Every turn is totally meaningful in the context of the full match. Again, an absolute rarity in the digital games sector, where the players' time is more often than not disrespected and treated as a "happily disposable resource".

Focus: Everything in the game is strongly connected to the core: Wits. This single resource lets you buy units, issue movement commands and attacks. You get a fixed number of Wits each turn, plus a bonus from special tiles if you have control over them, plus one from killing opponent's units. Again, that's part of the immense elegance of the game.
On top of that, the asymmetry is treated in a beautifully constrained way. Every team has the exact same unit types, except for one special unit, which makes them all different enough, yet doesn't break the balance.

Determinism: Randomness tends to be the factor that screws my enjoyment of seemingly okay games all the time. So many designers add it to their game to make it seem more interesting (i.e. to make decisions seem more ambiguous) than it really is. It's a cheap and easy way to prevent your system from breaking down. Now, nothing is random in Outwitters. Every unit has a deterministic attack strength, a deterministic movement range etc. It's all based on your creativity as a player to make the best out of the emergent behaviors of your units' capabilities.

Besides, as this is a turn-based strategy game there obvisouly isn't any execution involved. The impact of your decisions is not diminished at all. In fact, it's maximized!

The only hidden information is the "fog of war", which is itself strongly connected to your skill in keeping as much of the battlefield visible as possible (another incredibly elegant decision: A unit's movement range is also exactly how far it can see!).

The one caveat is, that this is only available on iOS and a pure multiplayer experience. I'd love to be able to practice against some AI. Well, once you took the plunge and went through your first few games against other players, it'll pretty much be a non-issue. There's a brilliant league system and matchmaking against equally skilled players is a matter of seconds.

Oh, by the way: This is a free game. And not your daily "free to play" crap. You get one of the four teams for free and CAN (I think you should) buy the other ones for a few dollars. What you get for free though, is the full game. There are no in-game resources you need to "grind" for or pay money for or something. This is a complete premium game gone free (which is sadly why it financially didn't get what it actually deserves).

 

If you have an iOS device (this works GREAT on small screens, too), do yourself a favor and give this game a shot. And if you want to do the videogame world a favor, buy the other teams to support the developers behind one of the best digital game designs ever.

[EaT_LeAd]

Currently playing Hearts Of Iron 3: Their finest hour and Project Zomboid (of course!). Will be playing Rome II total war when thats out in a couple of weeks

[TheConstructionWorker]

Mount & Blade such a great strategic (well essence of strategy) and large map where you start out a mere peasent and eventually grow a force to be reckoned, 5-6 different nations. Serve your king or become one, one of the best modding community's I have seen for the size of the game.

Great MP modded or not. Play that game for days. 

[Raptrix]

League of legends for boredom...

Baldurs gate: EE (God bless them for re-releasing this... My favourite game ever...)

Pay day 2

ZOMBOID!

 

 

[Rathlord]

I've been playing LoL and Baldur's Gate, too. I can't fucking wait for BG2:EE. And maybe BG3?

[harakka]

Sir, You Are Being Hunted early builds are now available for Kickstarter backers. I've had much fun with it already, the game seems to be shaping up marvellously.

 

A new stable version of Unreal World also turned up yesterday, I haven't gotten very far into a new game with it yet but it has lots of neat usability fixes.

[Aricane]

I'm all over Sir, You Are Being Hunted atm. And booted up Minecraft for a minute before I closed it down again.

[Rathlord]

I still get on Minecraft once in a blue moon to build big things with friends. There's also something to be said for booting up a hardcore survival game and just seeing if you can meet a certain goal (build a giant castle, beat the nether dragon, beat the wither, etc.) I haven't been a huge fan of many of the changes lately, but it does still have that charm that originally drew me in when it was still in in-dev.

[DrDildo]

I'm getting into Paranautical Activity, dunno why this game got me. And when i have enough time I make myself some coffee, take some cigarettes and play Civ V, singleplayer for now.

I've got so little time lately...

[Xydonus]

I'm all over Sir, You Are Being Hunted atm.

 

And so I've just discovered its gone into open alpha.

 

Great, another game to clog up my ever dwindling supply of Time. Precious Time.

[zombo]

I'm all over Sir, You Are Being Hunted atm.

I watched some videos.  I was hoping for more of a sneaking game, but it doesn't seem like that.  The enemies are not very hard to kill, and you can easily run away over and over.  You can also take a lot of damage and survive, or easily bandage and there are lots of bandages.  So when you run into the hunters, it's not really a big deal you can lose them so easily.

 

I don't know, it sounded really cool but after the videos I have to admit it doesn't seem as interesting.

[Guest]

 

I'm all over Sir, You Are Being Hunted atm.

I watched some videos.  I was hoping for more of a sneaking game, but it doesn't seem like that.  The enemies are not very hard to kill, and you can easily run away over and over.  You can also take a lot of damage and survive, or easily bandage and there are lots of bandages.  So when you run into the hunters, it's not really a big deal you can lose them so easily.

 

I don't know, it sounded really cool but after the videos I have to admit it doesn't seem as interesting.

 

 

I hate it when people judge ALPHA games like that.

 

ALPHA.

 

APLHA

 

AAHLP

 

ALPGA

[Pixel Bombs]

 

I hate it when people judge ALPHA games like that.

 

ALPHA.

 

APLHA

 

AAHLP

 

ALPGA

 

Uhh, it sounded like he was planning on investing in the alpha, saw the gameplay in its current state and changed his mind. There is nothing wrong with that.

[Guest]

 

 

I hate it when people judge ALPHA games like that.

 

ALPHA.

 

APLHA

 

AAHLP

 

ALPGA

 

Uhh, it sounded like he was planning on investing in the alpha, saw the gameplay in its current state and changed his mind. There is nothing wrong with that.

 

 

What he listed was points which will most likely change in the future, like balancing bandages and stuff.

 

But then again you can buy it later, when you feel the game has become better

[Xydonus]

I watched some videos.  I was hoping for more of a sneaking game, but it doesn't seem like that.  The enemies are not very hard to kill, and you can easily run away over and over.  You can also take a lot of damage and survive, or easily bandage and there are lots of bandages.  So when you run into the hunters, it's not really a big deal you can lose them so easily.

 

 

I don't know, it sounded really cool but after the videos I have to admit it doesn't seem as interesting.

 

 

I agree with you, on all fronts. But there has been mention of hardcore settings before that have yet to be implemented, as well as numerous additional robots including ones on rocket powered horses. However right now it feels more like your thrown into a world full of patrolling robots (oppose to having a sense of being hunted) and your simply trying to avoid the patrols. Although once you get a few latched onto you it can be quite exhilarating to try and lose them.

 

The problem I can see this game having is that it might soon be a case of *The hunted becomes the predator* with players easily not worrying about being the prey once they are well armed.

 

However, rather than screaming ALPHA (I hate those people...) in your face until I turn blue, I'll just quietly say that its early days yet.

[zombo]

Most of what I said isn't really stuff that's alpha excusable, maybe the abundance of bandages since it is procedurally generated.

 

Anyway, I watched another video and it does look a little better.  It had dogs, which are much better at chasing you, and although we only caught a glimpse of one sort of large robot in the distance, it mentioned that there are multiple types of enemies, and the large one for example is nearly impossible to kill.  The video also mentioned stealth kills, but I have not seen one.

 

Overall I'm just not feeling this being hunted aspect, which as someone said could improve as they develop the AI.  I was also expecting more use of hiding and sneaking, but it seems like you just run around and when you happen to get spotted, you run away.

[Rathlord]

Well I wasn't actually gonna say anything, but now I have to. I don't know anything about the game, but zombo you should know that by very essence an alpha game is not feature complete which means it's just a proof of concept. That means that all of the things you listed (every single one) are completely excusable because it's only when a game goes into beta that it should have all of its features intact. It's a forgivable mistake to make with the bastardization of both terms in current media, and I'm certainly not saying that it is now or ever will be good or bad, but judging an alpha game on the amount of content in conjunction with the amount of features is backwards.

 

Hate to be "that guy" who rants about alphas, but it's true and more people need to realize what the word actually means.

 

In other news I'm pretty pissed at the clowns at Best Buy who while simultaneously claiming to be "the tech experts" also said that they "beta tested" some of their new tablets. They didn't beta test them. They tested them. "Let's use clever buzz words to try to pick up the nerd audience!" Says the Best Buy advertising team. "Don't expect our business" say the nerds.

[Guest]

 

I watched some videos.  I was hoping for more of a sneaking game, but it doesn't seem like that.  The enemies are not very hard to kill, and you can easily run away over and over.  You can also take a lot of damage and survive, or easily bandage and there are lots of bandages.  So when you run into the hunters, it's not really a big deal you can lose them so easily.

 

 

I don't know, it sounded really cool but after the videos I have to admit it doesn't seem as interesting.

 

 

 

However, rather than screaming ALPHA (I hate those people...) 

 

 

Meh,

What you just said just transalates to ...

 

FUCKING ALPHA.

[zombo]

Well I wasn't actually gonna say anything, but now I have to. I don't know anything about the game, but zombo you should know that by very essence an alpha game is not feature complete which means it's just a proof of concept. That means that all of the things you listed (every single one) are completely excusable because it's only when a game goes into beta that it should have all of its features intact. It's a forgivable mistake to make with the bastardization of both terms in current media, and I'm certainly not saying that it is now or ever will be good or bad, but judging an alpha game on the amount of content in conjunction with the amount of features is backwards.

 

Hate to be "that guy" who rants about alphas, but it's true and more people need to realize what the word actually means.

 

I agree with your definition of alpha and I already knew it, but I still don't think it fully applies to all of my criticisms.  Maybe some, but overall I disagree.  Anyway I'm not gonna argue about it, a few people don't agree with me and that's fine.

 

The only reason I posted in the first place was because my initial reaction was like woah this sounds awesome, and then the videos didn't match up with what I thought.  It's also entirely possible that I don't even understand what they want the game to be, I didn't do loads of research before running off to find videos because I was excited about it.

[EnigmaGrey]

If you don't like the game in it's current state, it should be sufficient to state that you don't enjoy it, for whatever reason. There's little point in discussing the abstract nature of an "alpha." (This isn't really directed at you, Zombo.)

If I bought games purely for their potential rather than their current quality, I'd . . . buy everything.