Games you're looking forward to

[Cahir]

Masters of Albion: A New Spin on Fable’s World From Its Original Creator | gamescom 2024 - IGN

Peter Molyneux returns to the god game genre with Masters of Albion, a hybrid of Black & White and Dungeon Master set in the world of Fable.

www.ign.com

I still regard Dungeon Keeper highly, it's one of the highlights from my past as a gamer. So Masters of Albion definitely caught my eye during today's Opening Night Live. The question remains: will it be a good game, or a fluke by Peter Molyneux?

Has anyone here played Dungeon Keeper?

No, but I played Black & White and Populous and both were certainly interesting games. Also played the first Fable and it was awesome.

 

[mlnevese]

I would love to see a new Populous game... even the classic one with updated graphics would be welcome.

 

[m7600]

I played Dungeon Keeper back in the day. It's a really good game. Not necessarily one of my favorites, but it's a really good game nonetheless. Unique, and very creative in a lot of ways. It's interesting how it reverses the roles: instead of leading an adventuring party into a dungeon, you are an evil overlord who has to protect the dungeon against adventuring parties. Lol... That alone caught my attention when I first played it. Very ingenious. Another thing that I always found interesting is how you could take control of one of your minions, a fly for example, and see the world through their eyes, in first person perspective. Kinda useless from a purely mechanical standpoint, but very intriguing nonetheless.

I think that my major criticism of the game (the first one, at least) is that there aren't really as many creatures as you would otherwise believe when you start playing. When I got my first flies, spiders and beetles, I remember thinking "oh, if there's three types of bugs (instead of just spiders, for example), then there's going to be a lot of different creatures for my dungeon!" But no, there's really not that many.

 

[Antimatter]

Abubakar Salim, whom you might know as Father from Raised by Wolves, or Bayek from Assassins Creed Origins, has a gaming company Surgent Studios.

He showed a pitch for the studio's next game, which it seeks funding for: an “Afro-Gothic RPG” inspired by games like Planescape: Torment.

The game, codenamed Project Uso, is an isometric RPG. “It’s still in the Tales of Kenzera universe, but it’s darker, it’s more visceral, it’s gritty,” Salim told us.

“The best way I can describe it is a single-player, isometric, Afro-Gothic action RPG,

“The story (with Zau) is that as a shaman you’re challenging the God of Death as a way of looking at the idea of healthy handling grief, so I came up with the idea of what if one reader is inspired to defy death itself, so they create this android which is fashioned to cradle the spirits of the dead.”

“And what if that spirit isn’t a human being, it’s a God, Eshu, the God of Chaos, so now you’ve got these two mentalities in one frame? That’s something I thought would be really cool to explore.”

Tales of Kenzera: ZAU dev Surgent Studios is making an Afro-Gothic RPG inspired by Planescape: Torment | VGC

The team is looking for a funding partner for Project Uso…

www.videogameschronicle.com

 

[Antimatter]

Stygian Software recently released an alpha demo gameplay of Underrail 2 on their YouTube channel.

The Old-School Fallout-Inspired RPG Unveils Its Alpha Demo - Turn Based Lovers

Let’s be honest: we’re always on the hunt for something that captures the essence of the original Fallout from the ‘90s, often the gold standard for modern

turnbasedlovers.com

 

[JustKneller]

I almost went in for the first Underrail game. I like a rocky ride, but everything I've read indicated that it was absolutely brutal and unforgiving. More power to them, though. Even if it's too rich for my blood, we need more games like that to create an experience that's more than glorified IF.

 

[WarChiefZeke]

I played Dungeon Keeper back in the day. It's a really good game. Not necessarily one of my favorites, but it's a really good game nonetheless. Unique, and very creative in a lot of ways. It's interesting how it reverses the roles: instead of leading an adventuring party into a dungeon, you are an evil overlord who has to protect the dungeon against adventuring parties. Lol... That alone caught my attention when I first played it. Very ingenious. Another thing that I always found interesting is how you could take control of one of your minions, a fly for example, and see the world through their eyes, in first person perspective. Kinda useless from a purely mechanical standpoint, but very intriguing nonetheless.

I think that my major criticism of the game (the first one, at least) is that there aren't really as many creatures as you would otherwise believe when you start playing. When I got my first flies, spiders and beetles, I remember thinking "oh, if there's three types of bugs (instead of just spiders, for example), then there's going to be a lot of different creatures for my dungeon!" But no, there's really not that many.

When you count the fact that you can convert Heroes to your army, and those Heroes have more diversity than just "more powerful type of your creature", and also you can transfer high level creatures between levels if you find the right secret items...there is actually quite a lot of diversity. Knights, Witches, Faeries, Giants, Thieves, Wizards, Elven Archers, Dwarves, Samurais...and these aren't even your creatures!

But I ignored all of them on my first playthrough. I went purely into an Undead Lord. I converted everyone into Skeletons, Ghosts, and especially, Vampires. Vampires ability to regenerate (but lose a level) upon death lead to drawn-out siege campaigns...which just added to my army.

Personally, I mod my game using the simple text file you need to add stats and abilities to creatures. I give Flies, Beetles, and Hellhounds a few buffs at the highest levels, making them end-game viable with unique niches. I was tempted to alter the spell list of the Dragons and Warlock, but didn't.

KeeperFX also fixes some bugs and adds some improvements to the original games, as well as adding new campaigns to beat. Truly a lot of fun, Dungeon Keeper is an amazing game to play casually.

 

[Skatan]

I almost went in for the first Underrail game. I like a rocky ride, but everything I've read indicated that it was absolutely brutal and unforgiving. More power to them, though. Even if it's too rich for my blood, we need more games like that to create an experience that's more than glorified IF.

I tried it going in blind. Couldn't do jack shit against the very first enemies you encounter and it was part of the "main quest" so to speak. I realized I was too lazy to read up on all the details on how to build a proper character and shelved the game, but doing so knowing there was probably something quite good there if only one took the time to invest in it. Perhaps the second one is a bit more polished making that step less encumbering.

 

[Antimatter]

The Blood of Dawnwalker.

An upcoming RPG from Rebel Wolves, a new studio founded by Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, who previously served as game director on The Witcher 3 and head of production on Cyberpunk 2077.



Just watch the teaser trailer for the vibe. A vampire RPG!

 

[O_Bruce]

I have high expectations for this, especially since I haven't though I'll be looking forward to more than 1 game in 2025

 

[Antimatter]

I'm looking forward to playing Death Stranding 2 when it comes to PC.

I can recommend watching this preview by Skill Up, it's mostly spoiler-free and explains what to expect:



I liked DS 1 a lot because of its gameplay, it's one of the most unique games. Sounds like DS 2 will be that, but polished and updated, both gameplay-wise and narrative-wise.

 

[JustKneller]

I don't know if this counts as a "looking forward to" because it's out there already. I've been just browsing around, waiting for the Steam summer sale where I plan to pick up Subnautica Below Zero, and seeing if I want to wishlist anything else in preparation for that. I noticed that I already had Nier: Automata on my wishlist. It piqued my interest a little extra for some reason, so I started watching an actual play. I'm not trying to spoil myself. I just want to see the very start and get a sense of how this game plays.

Holy hell.

I know @Antimatter has mentioned the game before (which put it on my wishlist). I'm quite familiar with Square-Enix's style, or so I thought. It was not what I was expecting. I thought it was going to be more classic JRPGish with Fight/Item/Special/etc. menus, but it's straight up action. Based on what I've seen so far, my impression is that this game is if Bastion and Shadow of the Colossus had a love child, that was then cybernetically enhanced, got the proper Square-Enix makeover, and then smoked a bunch of crystal meth. I was really impressed with how the start was technically linear, but the gameplay totally shifted between a top-down shooter, a platformer, an arena beat-em up, and so on mostly just by shifting the camera angles (really clever). The little I've seen so far suggests a Spaghetti Western style of storytelling, which would be amazing if they pull it off.

I had to force myself to stop watching the AP so as to not spoil anything. I'm still picking up SBZ, but if the sale is good, my first stop is going to be N:A.

 

[Antimatter]

this game is if Bastion and Shadow of the Colossus had a love child, that was then cybernetically enhanced, got the proper Square-Enix makeover, and then smoked a bunch of crystal meth

NieR is that, and much more. And it will keep going, surprising you again, even if you thought you'd already seen all (e.g. after completing the first run, and then the second run...)

If only they announced a sequel, I'd be wishlisting it the very minute of it.

 

[WarChiefZeke]

I haven't had the chance yet, and it's not entirely in my wheelhouse, but I do want to try Neir. I love the fact that the story is a continuation of the last Drakengard ending. I have always been in awe of that game for its blend of traditional fantasy outer skin and completely and utterly deranged story and lore. Every ending gets more and more crazy. There's nothing like it.

 

[JustKneller]

I love the fact that the story is a continuation of the last Drakengard ending.

Is there background lore with which I should familiarize myself ahead of time?

 

[Antimatter]

I would recommend not reading anything before playing. I think part of what made Automata special for many people is that you figure out what's going on at the same time as the main character does. In that sense, going in without any prior knowledge of the world is a plus.

NieR Automata's Story is standalone. Everything you need to know about the lore can be found in-game in some logs.

However, AFTER you finish NieR (like, totally totally finish it), reading about the lore might not be a bad thing and would come naturally as you get more interested in the world.

 

[WarChiefZeke]

Is there background lore with which I should familiarize myself ahead of time?

Going through Drakengard will not reveal anything about Neir to you, so if you do so, do it for its own sake.

 

[Antimatter]

I've been busy this weekend playing a lot of demos during the Steam Next Fest. I think it was around 15 demos that I tried.

Now I'm totally sold on and looking forward to Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream by River End Games. It's an isometric, narrative-driven stealth game, and it's beautiful. I remember playing old Commandos stealth games.



Eriksholm shows an extremely good-looking alt-history Sweden from early 1900s. It includes high-quality cutscenes. The characters are likeable. And the gameplay is fun.

The demo felt very polished, and now I think I'll play the game on release next month.

It's not surprising that the game seems to be well-made. https://riverendgames.com/team.html So much talent and experience in that team.

I first noticed it during The Future Games show, and I'm glad there was a demo to try it out.

 

[JustKneller]

@Antimatter You had me at stealth game.

I downloaded the demo and gave it a shot. It definitely looks polished, especially for a demo. Despite the high level of detail (the visuals are great), it actually runs well on my old potato computer, albeit hot. I really need to start thinking about an upgrade. I like how they took an old gameplay concept and gave it a refreshing makeover. It has just the right level of exposition where it's not a lore dump, but you're also not wondering what is going on. So far, I've only finished chapter 1 and apparently there's a chapter 2. It's pretty long for a demo. I may have to replay chapter 1, though. I missed a couple collectibles/notes.

In classic Kneller fashion, I have to complain about something. I liked the crane puzzle by the drawbridge and I really hope the full game does more of this and with more complexity to provide contrast with the stealth gameplay. I suspect that is going to be the case because the note I found about blowguns really gave me foreshadowing vibes. That's the best criticism I can come up with.

I would have kept playing, but it's late and I need sleep. I'm looking forward to chapter 2. I hope my system can handle the full game without a meltdown. If so, I'll be coming dangerously close to doing somethat I haven't done since New Vegas released in 2010. I daresay, I might pay full price for a video game!

Like, seriously, what the hell did Herman get himself into!?

 

[Antimatter]

I agree, that is quite a long demo, and I enjoyed every minute of it. Saves will be compatible with the live version, but considering I also missed a few collectibles, I might replay it first. It is fun collecting those notes in this game, it helps the world to feel more alive, and MC's comments are interesting. Chapter 2 introduces a new mechanic, which proves handy in certain situations, so there is hope that the game will continue to evolve in later chapters as well.

I'm so happy you've tried the demo. I see Eriksholm didn't make it into Top 50 most-played demos during this fest, which is too bad: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/nextfestmostplayed

Considering the level of cinematics and just overall quality of the environment (I especially enjoyed this pleasant lighting, sun lights), I really hope the game succeeds. It's always a gamble, and it's the studio's first game, so let's wish them luck.

And yeah, the need to upgrade a system is understandable. I think there has been a quality leap in the last 3-4 years, so new games require new hardware.

I'm very cautious when picking and paying for games, especially on release. But I don't see anything bad in paying for something that I can vibe with. Unfortunately, Mimimi Games, the studio behind Desperados and Shadow Tactics, closed in 2023, so a new isometric stealth game (considering its quality so far) needs all the support it can get.