The thing about getting into game dev as a hobby is that basically now you have no time to actually play other games! 😭
When I do get time, Deep Rock Galactic is a fave for those days when you just want to shoot something in the face but you don't want to do it surrounded by aggressively sexist 12 year old boys. A new season just dropped this week, which makes it sound like a typical money-hungry microtransactional mess but I swear it's not like that at all, the devs are great people and everyone should give this one a go. ROCK AND STONE!
More chill days I like to investigate the unending backlog of cozy indie games from Epic (never touched them until I got a Steam Deck but it's been great for those). Or revisit Mini Metro which on the surface is a simple af puzzle game but it's surprisingly immersive and deep.
Of course it's Steam Next Fest atm, I've only tried a couple of demos so far (Station to Station and Laysara: Summit Kingdom) but was thoroughly underwhelmed by both of them. On the other hand my husband tried the demo of Memori and got super into it, he says anyone who liked Celeste should give it a try.
Also last mention goes to Outer Wilds, I'm not "playing" it as such because it's pretty one-and-done, but it's impossible not to recommend it whenever even a slightly appropriate opportunity allows. One of the most amazingly crafted and emotionally impactful games I've played in my 30-odd years of gaming and if you've never tried it, please just trust me and go in blind it is so worth it.
One of us! It's honestly an absolute masterclass in how you can make a simple concept so surprisingly deep.
Downside is they released Mini Motorways a while ago and I'm sure it's amazing but Mini Metro was so good that I've still not got bored of it and moved onto the sequel and I feel bad 😆
For anyone wondering about Deep Rock - it's a co-op FPS that is insane amounts of fun with a very friendly community. The DLC is cosmetic only - all the seasonal content is free.
I thought it would be my kind of game after watching a dozen of Real Civil Engineer’s videos and it is, 50+ hours in a few weeks. I love the slow inevitability of the drought seasons.
I’m hoping that they will introduce pipework into the main game (without mods) as that would really extend the ability to do some mad hydraulic engineering.
Don't get as much time as I would like (who does?) But mostly Dwarf Fortress having finished a portal play through.
I'm looking at Deep Rock Galactic to play with my boys as I've got them to promise we will only play together! We all played Valorant for a bit but they can put about 10 times the hours in that I can so they outstripped me long ago!
I always come back to two games. Divinity: Original Sin 2 and Minecraft. But I really miss Minecraft from the alpha and beta days when it was simple. D:OS2 is possibly the best story driven, turn based RGP I've ever played - any recs for something similar? Over winter I tried to get into Hogwarts Legacy but I couldn't find the motivation to progress despite growing up with and loving HP. On mobile I play Sky: Children of the Light pretty much daily and have done for almost 3 years now. Looking forward to PC release for that which was announced not long ago.
If you like story-driven RPG, I highly recommend you Disco Elysium. It's basically Divinity: Original Sin without the combat system and the fantasy setting (and with even better writing).
[email protected] (Lemmy / Kbin) have set up a community Minecraft server to try and recapture the old days! No idea how active it is but might be worth a look :)
Right now I have Final Fantasy XIV running in the background, I'm waiting for some ore to respawn at roughly 10:42 our time. Gathering's a nice laid back experience.
After I'm done with this I'm probably gonna boot up Story Of Seasons: Pioneers Of Olive Town and do some gathering in that too. :)
Hell Let Loose WW2 shooter. It has a great in-game community, and they just released the British faction too (which is a bit rough around the edges right now, admittedly).
I started some TotK, but mostly just been fiddling with the PC to get it running nicely - I would play it on Switch but a smooth 60fps is what I crave these days.
Also got the kids Lego 2K Drive, my son loves Lego and especially likes making cars so this is right up his street, the building mechanics are pretty cool and I’m sure you can make some truly crazy stuff with it. It’s early days but I would give it a recommend so far.
That smooth 60 is what I want, and I think that it won't be too long until I get into Switch emulation. But totk does play pretty well on native hardware, for the most part. I don't think Zelda is one of those games that absolutely requires 60 fps. Controversial opinion, I know, but Zelda looks just fine at 30 fps. When it does achieve 60, it's a little jarring tbh. I'd rather if the system can't run it at a stable, constant 60 that it instead locks in at 30. I'd rather play at 30 all the time than 60 sometimes.
BattleBit has become my current obsession. Feels just like playing Battlefield 3 back in the day once you get past the Roblox-esque graphics.
Honestly when I'm not playing it I'm thinking about playing it.
I'm thinking about getting it. Looks terrible visually but everyone says it's a fucking blast. I care more about fun and mechanics than visuals so it seems like I would probably enjoy it.
I've been getting back into World of Warcraft the past few weeks. Really enjoying playing solo and just levelling alts instead of the almost second job level of commitment that I used to have when raiding years ago.
Been eyeing that Battlebits Remastered on steam as well - might pick that up as it looks chaotic fun.
Got back into Grim Dawn in a big way recently. Diablo IV was released at the right time for ARPG fans, but I just can't deal with all of the extra garbage that you get with Blizz games nowadays.
Just completed the latest No Man's Sky expedition... getting close to finishing the main story in the new Zelda. I pretty much tend to play one game at a time until I'm done with it before moving onto the next.
Very much trying to tamp down my hype & excitement for Starfield and Fable... wait, Duke Nukem? Is there a new Duke Nukem?! I used to make maps for DN3D that we'd play over modem (BEEEP BROOOOOP BRRRRRRRR), my friends quickly learned that the high-powered weapon seductively placed on a pedastal with flashing lights was always a squishing trap.
Did you see the ad with Richard Ayoade (omg I spelled his name right, achievement unlocked)? As per, people whingeing about it, I thought it was brilliant. But then I'm a huge fan of his since the Garth Merenghi days.
I finally started playing Elden ring, I tried the souls games before and couldn't get into them but decided to give it a try. It's certainly challenging but I'm trying to stay calm and realise dying is part of the game and not get frustrated.
I think it'll take me quite a while to figure out all the various systems.
I've just picked up Unrailed! And am very much enjoying manically herding my 6 and 4 year old to build train track, under the stern conduction of my wife.
I've also really enjoyed playing Rotwood (the combat demo/test) and am very excited for when that becomes co-op multiplayer in the full release.
They're definitely not as popular as video games, I guess because they require a bit more investment and a reliable group of people. But are definitely more fun in my opinion.
I'm putting my earphones in to avoid the unbelievably loud whirring of my PS4, and playing Wreckfest and Mordheim single player for the eight millionth hour just to kill time between working, and working some more.
Age of wonders 3, I'd like to finish it before age of wonders 4 goes on sale.
Satisfactory, restarted for the 4th time, this time in the desert, I've never made it much past oil, but I've gotten really good at getting to oil! This time I'm using platforms everywhere, and it's making traveling/exploring so much easier, but I feel like it's also taken a lot of wonder out of exploration.
Path of exile is always in the background, waiting for me to come back to it. I'm super excited to see what exile con brings.
Playing them all on the deck with Bluetooth mouse and keyboard. The deck has also made other games so much more accessible, skul the hero slayer, dead cells, and hollow Knight I've put more time into than ever on the computer/console.
Aliens: Dark Descent. It's way better than I expected, not just in the gameplay but nailing the vibe of the movie. Fireteam Elite was a fun wave shooter but it turned the xenomorphs into cannon fodder for an action shoot-em-up. Dark Descent is survival horror. Fighting is a last resort. You spend your time creeping down dark corridors hoping you don't see a xeno, because when you do the hive wakes up and bad things happen. Like in Alien Isolation, your best bet is to watch your tracker and be where the xenomorphs aren't. Your marines can get wounded, killed, or dragged off to be an incubator. They also suffer stress, and start to freak out the longer they are in danger.
Really enjoying Diablo 4 at the moment, first game in a while that I can spend more than an hour playing before getting bored. Also been playing Chivalry 2 occasionally with friends just for some light hearted fun.
currently working my way through all of kingdom hearts. as a teen i played everything up until dream drop distance and i was a massive fan but that waned over time. i got both 1.5 + 2.5 and 2.8 and i'm working through everything again as a lore refresher before i tackle 3.
I've been playing Far Cry 3 on the ps4 (my first Far Cry game, alternating between really enjoying it and tearing my hair out at the janky "platforming") and nearly finished Terra Nil on PC, been revisiting Frostpunk a little bit too. But mainly I'm wondering if the upcoming FF16 release will be the excuse I need to finally buy a PS5 (•̯͡. •̯͡ )
Aside from FC3: Blood Dragon, you're probably playing the best game in the series hands down. Enjoy it, there's nothing else quite like it (every subsequent game felt like a cheap copy of FC3)
The first FC I played was 4 and I loved it, Pagan Min was such an awesome big bad. Felt each one since dumbed it down slightly more... the most recent one was really noticeable how copy 'n paste the format has become.
Your comment has made me want to check out FC3, sometimes I struggle to enjoy older games as the systems are basic and the graphics look poop compared to modern offerings... sometimes though there's some mods to upscale etc so definitely going to check it out
I checked out the F123 Game Trial on EA Play, seems like they really improved the handling this time - cars are a lot less nervous than last year so when traction breaks you have much more opportunity to correct the slide and keep going rather than being spat out into a wall or something. And on the other end, a lot less unaccountable turn in understeer. I also got PS2 Emulation working on my phone so I’m playing some Gran Turismo 3 & 4. I had been playing 7, but while the driving is pretty good…The Campaign structure and the AI leave a lot to be desired. So I figured I’d replay some classics while I wait for Forza Motorsport this October.
I'm mostly switching between the System Shock Remake (one of my Kickstarters finally coming through...) and Aliens: Dark Descent -- which is far better than I was expecting. The only real sticking points so far is the squad acting as 'one' (it's a pro and a con), and the sheer RNG of alien movements -- hit the RNG just right and you'll go from a Hunt event, straight into a difficulty increase, straight into a Boss encounter...!
Prey is a fantastic game -- and unfortunately the last Arkane game I 'clicked' with, and a good part of that is likely due to Prey being a spirtual successor to System Shock 2, and Dishonored being the successor to Thief. The roguelite DLC for Prey isn't bad either! I really wanted Harvey Smith to work on a successor to Deus Ex, but, oh well...
Finally getting around to Bloodborne on my partner's PS5. Had zero interest in these games before I gave Elden Ring a go last year, and I've been hooked since.
Finished Elden Ring last year, and Sekiro over the festive season.
Cassette Beasts (really good if you love Pokemon but are bored of Pokemon and want something a bit different)
Chivalry 2 (mindless stabby fun, but I've gotten to a point where I'm good enough to know I suck but too old and busy to get better)
Runescape (never played as a kid, my friends got me into it earlier this year then they stopped playing lol)
I wish Diablo and Zelda were my answers.
Destiny 2 as a F2P user has been surprisingly fun. Yeah, there are paywalls, but there's at-least 60-80 hours that you can play for free with how well the game is designed. Great group PvP and PvE challenges, public group PvE challenges, and over-all gorgeous modeling. Plus the combat mechanics aren't insanely hard to learn, but they can still provide a great challenge. I had my doubts because I've heard it was a microtransaction nightmare, but turns out it's not a pay-to-play scheme like Genshin. I might even buy the expansions and unlock the rest of the game.
Started Tears of the Kingdom a day before release. Not played anything else since. And the size of this game, it might be a while before I play anything different.
You might already know this, but if you've unlocked Lurelin Village (and completed all refurbs) there's a little treasure chest game... you get a 1-in-3 chance of winning a high value monster part. Now here's the sneaky part... you may have noticed round the corner there are often 3 roasted porgy on spears. If you go back to the treasure dude, it turns out he has a hankerin' for porgy and will let you have two more goes.
I've not got to there, I have heard NPCs talk about the village, so will keep an eye open for that tip thanks.
Currently at about 100 hours or so, done almost all main quests except defeat Ganon, and now just making my way clockwise around the map trying to find everything.
Call me crazy but halo infinite has made great strides to become better. Been playing that a decent amount been avoiding playing destiny 2 as I don't care for how little care Bungie puts into it. Other than that my back log of games I buy and have yet to play :)
Running through the tomb raider trilogy, it's free in ps catalogue and I'm really enjoying the story as I'm just trying to get through them rather than find every trinket I'm the game. I might try playing more games like this as a lot I burn out on 2 thirds through or get distracted by another game.
I do mostly FFXIV and emulation, but just got into RuneScape 3 and it's super fun. I was quite surprised, as it's not a very actiony game, but the questing and style just grows on you.
Yakuza Kiwami, played 0 a few years ago and I've been wanting to play the rest of the series for a long time, decided I'd actually do that now since they're on PS+ Extra.
Playing Diablo IV! Just finished the somewhat lackluster campaign which is definitely a prologue to something much more grand coming in the future expansions. But nobody really plays it for the story, right...
It is indeed quite expensive but considering how many hours I have played Diablo 2 and 3 as well as the extreme replayability of D4, the price per hour is actually low in my case. If you like the Diablo gameplay, it's a lot of fun!
Just finished Miles Morales and currently playing the Layers of Fear remaster. Also waiting for Final Fantasy to unlock, bought it after being blown away by the Demo. Also also playing some Ratchet & Clank on the side.
The forever constant is Rocket League, but I've started Witcher 3 back up on my switch.
Tried to pick up a discounted copy off steam for cloud save .. but learned that feature is broken. So I refunded and picked it up on GOG.. and learned it's also broken.
Really brought me back to when I played PC games more and how absolutely infuriating it is when something doesn't work and you try to troubleshoot it. Nowadays there are countless sites where people respond with, "it works on my machine" as a solution. What an age we live in.
Is that game still going? I remember when dd2 came out, I played it for a bit and it fouled my taste so much that I never went back to dd1, I had hundreds, if not a thousand, hours in dd1.
In the short moments I've had for gaming, I've finished the main story in Saints Row (the rebooted one). It was OK, reasonably fun and definitely worth the £12 or so I paid on ebay. Not sure what's next, maybe finish my second run of Horizon Zero Dawn.