crispy4000

Diddy Kong racing snow levels, as is tradition.

Time Spent: ~30 min Rating: **½ Adventure of Lolo like push block puzzle game. The twist is that you can destroy blocks or throw them a set distance away. You've probably played something like it before. The music is very annoying, which in my mind is the deal breaker. But otherwise it's competent, and the puzzles ease you in with their difficulty.

ime Spent: ~30 min Rating: ** /4 Tries to emulate the feel of a DOS platformer action game. Jumping feels quick and unpolished, in an endearing sort of way. Shooting stops you in place, ammo is unlimited. You’re forced to go prone to hit some enemies, either that or shoot near the top of a ladder. Diagonal and upward aiming only works on the ground, which is a baffling design decision. I don't think the aesthetic works blown up to a modern display, the character sprites are too small which makes going up ladders more troubling than it should be. Overall, a fun little arcade game if you want to relive a bit of that era. But I wouldn't look into it otherwise.

Time Spent: ~2 hours Rating: *** /4 It's been a while for this one, I can recall beating the first two bosses. Its a boss gauntlet game where one sold hit kills you or whatever weak spot of what you're fighting. I think there's something here, but the concept trips over itself out of necessity, by making your arrow shot so important that you have to recover it. Or stand in place and slowly warp the arrow back to you. It's good they didn't revisit the concept for Death Door, which is a better game for it.

Fallout 3 GOTY today.

Free on EGS for another ~10 hours, for anyone interested.

Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales is $4, cheaper than its ever been on GoG even. Beyond that, I dunno. Klonoa Colleciton is $10 again.

https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/art-of-rally

https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/art-of-rally

It's far more important that Microsoft comes out swinging into the next console generation than catching Sony in an off year. That's how they find a better competitive foothold: Not treating a generational launch like a mid-gen refresh. CoD matters on Games Pass, surely, but maybe not as much in the middle of a generation that's largely been decided. At the minimum, it should keep Series X as relevant as the introduction of Games Pass did for Xbox One. The only other wrinkle here is the PS5 Pro, and the rumors that Microsoft won't be doing a similar refresh. Quite a pickle if CoD does, or doesn't, look best there on console.

I don’t know if only speak for myself here, but the main draw is the library. Remember back in the day when people said the PS1 was much better than the N64 because of quantity + quality? Yeah, that’s PC today. Even more considering Sony and Microsoft port to it. Second to that is not being upsold on subscriptions for features free on other devices. And besides Games Pass, there's subscription options to own games outright. (or leech to own in Epic’s case) IMO, it’d be worth paying an extra hundred or two or three just for a console with those advantages. Not even considering the power differential at those price points.

Yeah, that game is a good time

12/21: Melvor Idle

12/21: Melvor Idle https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/melvor-idle-b6a9b3

It’s better just to use a front end like Playnite or Launchbox in my experience. Surely beats spreadsheets, or booting up Epic’s app.

For the record I agree with you Xbob. You still don’t need to spend a fortune. But there’s no denying that the crypto boom put pricing out of whack. This gen it feels much more expensive to build something pretty good that lasts. Even if it’s always somewhat cheap to get your foot in the door.

We know the Series consoles are tracking behind where the One was at this point, and supply issues are no longer to blame. They're still slightly ahead of the 360 though, which had more of a snowball effect later on. Getting Activision games up on Games Pass is probably their best shot to turn things around. They'd certainly hope for it after a $69 billion acquisition.

That's a super high ranking for Sea of Stars and Lies of P. Glad to see they're getting some love when so many good AAA games got released this year.

Time Spent: ~45 min Rating: **** /4 Wow, I did not expect to like this game this much. Instead of yet another invulnerable dodge roll (ugh), you have a jump like Roc's Feather in Link's Awakening, and you can chain bounce off enemies to stun then. It feels great, and prevents it from getting too circle-strafey. The roguelike mechanics also seem fair and respectful of your time, including warps to every room on the map. Bosses attack you sporadically in zones, not just at the end of them. It's weird looking, which can be offputting, but the style fits with the oddness of the power-ups. I can't say I've seen another game that animates quite like it. It might be doing the pixel cel-shading thing, but creates its own look that elevates it above others in the genre. It may not be Hades, nothing is, but this is going to end up near the top of my gotta-try-it-again list.

Like previous Epic sales, I'll keep a separate EGS sale thread running here to help remind folks, since it's only 24 hours for each free game. 12/20: DNF Duel 12/21: Melvor Idle 12/22: Art of Rally The sale is suprisingly not bad this year, with a 33% coupon if your cart has $15 or more in it. Most notable deals appear to be Alan Wake 2 and the Kingdom Hearts games, which haven't (and might never) make it to Steam. Others like RDR2 are cheaper than they've ever been on PC, and might not matter as much where you buy since they'll use Rockstar's launcher. Here's a list I took from reddit: I'd still wait until the giveaways are almost over, and for Steam sale pricing.

The best argument for a console today is that an equivalent PC costs more in relativity than prior gens at this point. But it'd be odd to think PC can't ever get to previous levels of affordability again. The barometer may have already shifted in a different way, with reconstruction solutions on PC being superior and more tweakable. If Sony and Microsoft both dropped all first party games day and date on PC, paying a bit more for an equivalent build would be quite easy to justify. You'd save that just on online fees over the life of a console. You could still subscribe to Games Pass, for cheaper. Sony's games could drop price (like rocks) at the same pace as their console versions. Win / Win / Win If the console manufactures don't see the danger in that for their console business, its their loss. Sony's only got their foot halfway in the door, which is probably wise. But if they go all in, they'll never be able to take it back.

You’re correct. What day and date does ensure is that I’d never buy a Sony console again. As it did Microsoft. I’d likely be exclusively a Nintendo gamer on console, because they sell exclusives worth buying their hardware in specific for. Which again, begs the question if Microsoft and Sony are actually “right” to devalue the appeal of their consoles that much. It’s the kind of the thing that would have me rooting for Valve to enter the console market proper, after being emboldened with the Deck.

Right about what exactly? Individual games make more money when they’re on more platforms. But they’re trading off those gains with lost royalty and subscription revenues when more people chose Valve. They’re further cannibalizing their console AAA game sales with the loss leader subscriptions they’re popularizing. Microsoft is probably better positioned than Sony to work out this strategy regardless, because I think it’ll take more screens than just TVs or monitors, and they’re better positioned to make a play there. The real winner in all this would be Nintendo IMO. They’ll go from an appropriate time to exit the console market (Wii U), to always having a given place in it. Because they’re the only ones offering games you’d need their platform for. One could say they’ve already ‘won’ by selling their games at a premium for longer / for always. They’re the only one of the big 3 managing not to devalue their products in the name of competition. (as much as that sucks for us) Hell, they’re charging more and selling more.

Time Spent: ~30 min Rating: *** Lite-RPG with a bullet hell focus. It’s not really a Zelda-like, but does share certain elements with dungeons and towns. It takes a lot of inspiration from Gungeon it seems, especially the dodge roll. But there’s also checkpoints, its refreshing to have a game like this where progress isn’t lost. The maps are procedurally generated, but progression is fairly linear. Overall, it’s as good/bad as it sounds on paper, no better, no worse.

And its still a waste of resources if a worse upscaller can still get a decent (if not perfect) 1440p or 4k resolve. I have no problem with developers designing games with any halfway decent upscaller in mind. But if they miss that target, it just looks bad.