Reus is great! I spent a summer several years back sinking my teeth into it good. It really scratches the itch for playing Civilization when I don’t have time to play Civilization.
I never did get all the achievements. Some of them are crazy hard to pull off within the time limit. Good luck to you if you end up sticking with it.
I’m quite looking forward to Reus 2.
I didn’t have an issue with that in Remnant 1, but I think it was improved on that front. There’s more enemy variety, with several fodder mobs and elites with unique gimmicks, and some of the bosses are straight up weird. The maps are still procedurally generated, but there are more types of maps in the pool. They do still feel samey when you get two maps that use the same chunks, but there is less overlap from map to map.
They also made the area progression part of the world proc-gen, so you can encounter the areas in a different order on different play-throughs. That does help keep the replayability fresh, but it doesn’t fix the issue. It just sort of sweeps it under the rug so that it takes more playthroughs to notice.
Best:
Factorio - The factory must grow.
Vampire Survivors - They keep releasing new content, and I keep devouring it. This game is even more addicting than Cracktorio.
The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog - Best April Fools joke this year, and a solid light visual novel in its own right. This was a pleasant surprise.
Remnant II - My choice for Game of the Year this year. TotK let me down, and while BG3 is solidly in the #2 spot I don’t really vibe with it. Remnant II is an excellent sequel that builds on the strengths while fixing the weaknesses of its predecessor. It’s a hell of a game that still manages to stand out in a year stacked with great titles.
Note: I didn’t play AC6 or the new Street Fighter, so I’ve got no opinion on how they match up.
Worst:
Keywe - A puzzle game where you play as Kiwi birds managing a post office in Australia. Not my thing, but my sister likes it and wanted to play the multiplayer with me. We played online and holy hell this game’s netcode is broken. We kept desyncing mid-puzzle and then whoever was hosting would have to finish the puzzle while the other stood and watched because they couldn’t see the actual gamestate. It’s probably a fine game as a solo or local play experience, but it left a sour impression.
I have! I’ve finished the base game and started on Kaycee’s Mod a while back. I’m really bad at it, but it’s fun.
I’m considering picking up Signalis if it goes on sale over Christmas. I’ve heard it scratches the same itch as Outer Wilds.
In a bit of a gaming rut right now. Spinning my wheels on a bunch of different games. Haven’t had one hook its claws back into me yet.
I’ve been mostly grinding out Cookie Clicker and Slay the Spire this week.
Nice games to play side by side while I binge blind Let’s Plays of Hollow Knight, Outer Wilds, and Return of the Obra Dinn so I can vicariously chase the fleeting joy and wonder I got from playing those games the first time around.
Finished most of the tasks to do in The Longing and now just waiting for the clock to tick down.
Sat down one evening with my old save file and pushed through to finish the Tears of the Kingdom main quest. For all its faults, it had a really strong ending. I cried. Very conflicted on the game, but I don’t have anything to say that hasn’t already been said ad nauseum.
Played a bit of Dark Souls, a bit of Sekiro, a bit of Kingdoms of Amalur, a bit of Subnautica: Below Zero, and a bit of Siralim. Not sure what I’ll settle on yet for next week, but I’m feeling strongest on Siralim right now.
Picked up The Longing, and I’ve been working my way through it little by little.
Excellent game. Way more depth and much better paced than I anticipated. It’s an idle game that commits to the bit. Fire it up, wait 400 days, and you’re done. There’s other stuff to do within the game, but it all takes time, and it’s all optional but pleasantly engaging.
I give my little shade a task, then let it run in the background while I do other things, and now I’m suddenly 8000 words in to writing some fan fiction I’ve been bouncing around in my head. It’s been a very productive week.
I wanted more Vampire Survivors content when I’ve already finished Vampire Survivors. I just discovered that Survivors is a genre now, and there’s a ton of copycat games of varying quality. I’m poking around looking for good ones.
Picked up Spellbook: Demon Slayers because it was a $5 game on sale for a dollar off. It’s still in early access, and that shows. It’s clearly unfinished but it’s got good bones.
Pros: Solid mechanics. Solid variety of spells and builds. Nice variety of endgame and meta progression systems with a reasonable amount of grinding.
Cons: Only three indistinguishable maps, limited enemy variety, and I’m not a fan of the endgame being effectively gated by farming endless mode. I like Vampire Survivors having games effectively limited to 15-30min sessions with all content doable within those constraints, endless mode optional, making time commitments much more predictable and reliable. Spellbook: Demon Slayers is much less respectful of your time.
Still, promising game overall. Solid 6/10 as-is, with a tentative 8-9/10 if the devs can follow through to a finished product. Looking forward to future development. Would love recommendations for other games in the genre that scratch that itch.
I’m a bit leery of Satisfactory due to the first person perspective. Watched a few gameplay videos and I don’t think it works for the genre, at least not to my taste.
I’ll probably break down and pick it up eventually, but I don’t plan on it anytime soon.
Just finished 100%ing all achievements in Factorio. Got the speedrun achievements over the weekend, and let my original factory run overnight for a few days to grind out the 20m green circuits.
Still got the itch to play more factory sim. Debating whether to dip my toes into Dyson Sphere Program or try my hand at the Space Exploration mod for Factorio.
Neat! How does Xendar’s mod differ from setting pacifist and cranking up ore patch richness in worldgen?
Just beat Factorio (launched a rocket) for the first time a couple of days ago. Feels good.
Default settings, and I got the Lazy Bastard, no lasers, no solar, no provider/buffer/requestor chests, and SLaTfAtF achievements in one go after about 80 hours in.
Continuing the Factory for now to farm the 20m Green Circuit production achievement. Slowly transitioning from a main bus factory to a city blocks factory. Blue circuits are my bottleneck, so I’m working on scaling up production off-bus.
Planning to go for the speedrun achievements next weekend. Want to 100% the game before the new expansion they’ve been teasing drops.
The factory must grow.
That’s how it goes. The blue science wall is real.
My last run was the first time I pushed past blue. I just barely managed to get yellow and purple going but I overextended my base, everything was falling apart from resource bottlenecks, and the biters had spread so much that pushing out to new resource patches was like pulling teeth. I gave up while trying to get a fresh oil supply up and running.
Current run I just got red and green science going, and trains and my car are ready to go. Iron is starting to run out. Fixing to leave my starter base to go liberate some more iron and coal from the natives.
Just finished Subnautica for the first time. That was a hell of a satisfying ending. Good game throughout.
Picked Factorio back up for now. Making another go at it on a fresh start. Maybe this time I’ll push through and actually launch a rocket.
Is this a sequel to Dungeon of the Endless?
I drown or get eaten by aggressive fauna.
The world of Subnautica is not a friendly place for the unprepared.
Definitely Corruption of Champions. I still have a copy I fire up every now and then.
The sequel is alright as well, but doesn’t quite scratch the same itch.