Games you're looking forward to

[Antimatter]

I played the Upveaval demo on Steam (an indie text RPG/roguelike by Alex Leone).

Here are a few screenshots:

It reminded me of The Secret of Darkwoods, but with a more relaxed approach - less fighting, more traveling and poking around. In 15 days, my adventurer hasn't really achieved anything, but got caught (and hit) by goblins (hey, I managed to defeat one goblin), played with an imp for 2 days and got lost in the forest, talked to people in the town tavern, and learned how he could become a magician, but never really could find a magical boulder they mentioned. Offered to join bandits, but since I didn't have anything, they declined. I guess, you can't expect more from someone who doesn't have any skills and just starts his way as an adventurer.

The game has relaxing music, a very intuitive UI (really, good job on that), and gives a very genuine feeling of how difficult it is to gain anything in a medieval world.

There were some typos, but overall nice and atmospheric descriptions, and I could even hide all the text to look at backgrounds.

Spoiler

Typos: Rhe instead of The, shoild instead of should, and tavejn instead of tavern

Will be definitely looking forward to the full version of the game.

 

[Alex Leone]

Thank you, @Antimatter, I'm glad you enjoyed it! Having an unproductive and fun first run is pretty common! Congrats on defeating the one goblin. Finding that magical boulder that was mentioned is one of the ways to be able to do more things on future runs, but I tried to put lots of ways to find where the cool items are hidden.

Thank you for your kind words about the music and UI! I really appreciate them.

Re: the typos: Those are intentional, actually! I'm assuming you visited the tavern just before those spoilers showed up? It sounds like I may need to make that effect more clear in the game. Thanks for the feedback!

 

[Cahir]

Thank you, @Antimatter, I'm glad you enjoyed it! Having an unproductive and fun first run is pretty common! Congrats on defeating the one goblin. Finding that magical boulder that was mentioned is one of the ways to be able to do more things on future runs, but I tried to put lots of ways to find where the cool items are hidden.

Thank you for your kind words about the music and UI! I really appreciate them.

Re: the typos: Those are intentional, actually! I'm assuming you visited the tavern just before those spoilers showed up? It sounds like I may need to make that effect more clear in the game. Thanks for the feedback!

Welcome to our little Tavern! I hope you'll find the place cozy and relaxing. I'd definitely try Upveaval demo as a welcome distraction from intense emotions of Baldur's Gate 3. It sure looks very interesting.

 

[mlnevese]

Thank you, @Antimatter, I'm glad you enjoyed it! Having an unproductive and fun first run is pretty common! Congrats on defeating the one goblin. Finding that magical boulder that was mentioned is one of the ways to be able to do more things on future runs, but I tried to put lots of ways to find where the cool items are hidden.

Thank you for your kind words about the music and UI! I really appreciate them.

Re: the typos: Those are intentional, actually! I'm assuming you visited the tavern just before those spoilers showed up? It sounds like I may need to make that effect more clear in the game. Thanks for the feedback!

Welcome to the Tavern! Take a seat and have fun!

 

[Alex Leone]

Welcome to the Tavern! Take a seat and have fun!

Thank you! It seems nice here.

Welcome to our little Tavern! I hope you'll find the place cozy and relaxing. I'd definitely try Upveaval demo as a welcome distraction from intense emotions of Baldur's Gate 3. It sure looks very interesting.

I'd love to hear what you think! I haven't played Baldur's Gate 3 yet (my computer is a potato), but, from what I've heard about it, it seems likely that my game might elicit less intense feelings.

 

[InGameScientist]

@Antimatter Broken Roads is happening in just about two weeks!!!

Also, recently played a gem called Soccer Kids (sorry I used the s-word here instead of football, but it's in the name) -- it's a turn-based strategy game where you control kids playing soccer. I know it sounds a bit weird but I loved it especially because it's a turn-based game that isn't about blowing up aliens or hacking and slashing evil.

Soccer Kids Alpha on Steam

A game about soccer, made by people who suck at playing soccer. Guide your team of nerds to victory in this tight, tactical soccer game!

store.steampowered.com

 

[m7600]

Right now I'm looking forward to Subnautica 3. I finished Subnautica 1 and Below Zero a few months ago, and I started playing Stranded Deep mostly to scratch the Subnautica itch, though it's actually a pretty cool game in it's own right. But it's not Subnautica. I need the third instalment of the series, they already have me addicted!

 

[Nimran]

Dragon’s Dogma 2. Probably the only game I’m looking forward to at this time.

 

[Antimatter]

Dragon’s Dogma 2. Probably the only game I’m looking forward to at this time.

Have you played the first installment? Did you like it? What was the game like?

@Antimatter Broken Roads is happening in just about two weeks!!!

Also, recently played a gem called Soccer Kids (sorry I used the s-word here instead of football, but it's in the name) -- it's a turn-based strategy game where you control kids playing soccer. I know it sounds a bit weird but I loved it especially because it's a turn-based game that isn't about blowing up aliens or hacking and slashing evil.

Soccer Kids Alpha on Steam

A game about soccer, made by people who suck at playing soccer. Guide your team of nerds to victory in this tight, tactical soccer game!

store.steampowered.com

Broken Roads was delayed to "early 2024" though, as their team needs more time on QA & stuff. Happy about their decision tbh, the demo already had too many systems, so hopefully, they'll all work nicely in 1.0.

Right now I'm looking forward to Subnautica 3. I finished Subnautica 1 and Below Zero a few months ago, and I started playing Stranded Deep mostly to scratch the Subnautica itch, though it's actually a pretty cool game in it's own right. But it's not Subnautica. I need the third instalment of the series, they already have me addicted!

I agree! What would you say about Subnautica 1 vs Below Zero? Which one did you like more and why?

 

[m7600]

I agree! What would you say about Subnautica 1 vs Below Zero? Which one did you like more and why?

I liked them both a lot, but at the end of the day I prefer Subnautica 1. Below Zero is really good, but the main problem that it has IMO is that it doesn't have a truly scary Leviathan like the Reaper in Subnautica 1. I love the Chelicerate for example, but there's nothing scary about it, it looks like a pink dolphin to me, mostly due to the shape of its body and how it swims. The Shadow Leviathan could be a good candidate, but the environments that it lives in are more awe-inspiring (i.e., "oh wow, giant crystals!") rather than scary like The Dunes in Subnautica 1.
I don't mind the smaller map size of Below Zero, or the other usual criticisms that it gets. What it really needed is a scary, iconic leviathan of its own.

 

[Nimran]

Have you played the first installment? Did you like it? What was the game like?

Oh yeah, I played it. It’s probably the only game I can still play without getting bored of it fairly quickly. Basically, you play as a villager who stands up to a dragon that destroys part of your village, and the dragon steals your heart and challenges you to try and get it back (by slaying the lizard, naturally). The game is you and your loyal pawns (what the game calls your companions) going on adventures to stop the dragon, as well as his minions, from destroying the world. There’s more to it than just that, but I’d be jumping into spoiler territory if I said anything further.

The game plays as an aRPG, like the newer Final Fantasy games, but what makes Dragon’s Dogma truly unique is the fact that you can climb onto large monsters and attack them while climbing on them. It’s really fun, with the different classes, called ‘vocations’ appealing to a variety of different play styles. My current run is with a ranger, almost a pure archer, with some light dagger action.

I like mostly everything about the game, except for two things: the leveling system, and the pawn AI. With leveling, the stats you gain depend on what vocation you’re in, which sounds fine, but it promotes using only certain vocations to get the best stat growths, which I don’t really like. It’s not like you really NEED those gains, of course, but knowing my character could be even better grates on me a bit.

The other thing is the pawns. I hope the second game improves their AI a lot, because the way they worked in the first DD left a lot to be desired. Or, you know, the developers could just let multiplayer be an option. I have seen some of the gameplay trailers, and it does seem like the pawns have been improved, so I’ve got my fingers crossed, hoping that it’s better.

On a side note, the first DD was apparently only about 30-40% complete when Capcom decided to rush it out the door (like big publishers tend to do). The second game is apparently what the first game would have been if the developers were able to actually finish it. This is all just hearsay, of course, so I’m not guaranteeing its accuracy. That said, if it’s true, I’ll be calling it my personal game of the year for sure.

 

[Cahir]

Oh yeah, I played it. It’s probably the only game I can still play without getting bored of it fairly quickly. Basically, you play as a villager who stands up to a dragon that destroys part of your village, and the dragon steals your heart and challenges you to try and get it back (by slaying the lizard, naturally). The game is you and your loyal pawns (what the game calls your companions) going on adventures to stop the dragon, as well as his minions, from destroying the world. There’s more to it than just that, but I’d be jumping into spoiler territory if I said anything further.

The game plays as an aRPG, like the newer Final Fantasy games, but what makes Dragon’s Dogma truly unique is the fact that you can climb onto large monsters and attack them while climbing on them. It’s really fun, with the different classes, called ‘vocations’ appealing to a variety of different play styles. My current run is with a ranger, almost a pure archer, with some light dagger action.

I like mostly everything about the game, except for two things: the leveling system, and the pawn AI. With leveling, the stats you gain depend on what vocation you’re in, which sounds fine, but it promotes using only certain vocations to get the best stat growths, which I don’t really like. It’s not like you really NEED those gains, of course, but knowing my character could be even better grates on me a bit.

The other thing is the pawns. I hope the second game improves their AI a lot, because the way they worked in the first DD left a lot to be desired. Or, you know, the developers could just let multiplayer be an option. I have seen some of the gameplay trailers, and it does seem like the pawns have been improved, so I’ve got my fingers crossed, hoping that it’s better.

On a side note, the first DD was apparently only about 30-40% complete when Capcom decided to rush it out the door (like big publishers tend to do). The second game is apparently what the first game would have been if the developers were able to actually finish it. This is all just hearsay, of course, so I’m not guaranteeing its accuracy. That said, if it’s true, I’ll be calling it my personal game of the year for sure.

I tried to play Dragon Dogma, and while gameplay, exploration and even the story seemed fun and warranted further playing, unfortunately there was one dealbreaking (for me) issue that made me stop playing. Dialogue writing style. I don't know if it's because recently I played the games with the best narrative in crpg history (again, personal opinion) or there's really something off (maybe not, because I couldn't find people complaining about it), but to me it looked like the game was written in other language (most probably in Japanese) and then machine translated to English. It really was that bad for me. Couldn't get past it, which is a shame

 

[Nimran]

The dialogue is hit or miss. The dragon, for instance, is very well voiced, but pretty much every other character speaks as though it’s their first time reading ‘ye olde English’, which, to be fair, it probably was. All those ‘thous’ and ‘aughts’ probably made them a little stilted.

 

[Cahir]

The dialogue is hit or miss. The dragon, for instance, is very well voiced, but pretty much every other character speaks as though it’s their first time reading ‘ye olde English’, which, to be fair, it probably was. All those ‘thous’ and ‘aughts’ probably made them a little stilted.

Yeah, maybe this was the reason. Didn't feel natural to me, at all. I hope DD2 will be different in this regard.

 

[InGameScientist]

@Antimatter I wrote that and then a few days afterwards, I learned about the regrettable (but respectful) decision for them to push out the launch date. It just means more to look forward to in 2024!!

I will say there's a dramatic decrease in releases in December - not many games with confirmed release dates, but I wrote about some games that I was interested here: https://ingamescientist.substack.com/p/new-games-to-whet-your-appetite-in-445 (hope this is ok to include external links, please please let me know if this isn't).