I’m getting enough people together for Sidereal Confluence today for only the third time and this game is so unbelievably good and unique, it’s my favourite new multiplayer anything in years
I should’ve made more of an effort to get it out at the sbmeetup last year but it’s definitely coming along this year
A coworker of mine got Sidereal Confluence, but it didn’t seem to make much of a mark on the boardgaming scene. I hadn’t heard much about it aside from him picking it up. What makes it so unique?
the format is like nothing else; it’s a sprawling sea of cards and cubes and there’s no real board to speak of and it does the cosmic encounter thing where every race is totally different (but well, and balanced, and you’re allowed to play with as many of the 9 as you want), and the game alternates between extremely frantic, realtime, 10-minute long trading rounds and “upkeep” that resolves everything (so it works kind of like diplomacy in that respect), and it’s completely madcap and deliberately overwhelming while being actually quite straightforward in its rules so it’s more physically exhausting than mentally exhausting, and it has rules that I’ve never seen before for this type of game like “you’re not allowed to lie to people and all trades are absolutely binding and you’re allowed to promise people blue cube futures three turns down the road in exchange for something right now and you must make good on it” which let you get so creative and tie yourself in crazy knots and no one can fall behind too badly because the central mechanic is that you all share tech advancements at the end of every round, you just score for being the one to discover them, and it’s dense without being overlong and I just adore it
it’s like a deconstruction of a lot of games that are themselves pretty unique but have fallen out of favour for various reasons into this crazy horsetrading thing that’s so resolutely weird
it rules
It is, without a doubt, the single game I am most excited to play in the future, and the prospect of playing it in November is the impetus I needed to finally buy those plane tickets to sbuttcon
Well, I’m convinced. That sounds dope.
i went first the heart, then the others, then the training, then the sword, then the armor, then the hair and it didn’t work. what the heck man, what’s the philosophy this game’s pushing
Hair takes time to grow, some of us can’t manage a six o’clock shadow in under an hour.
but shouldn’t the aesthetics come at the end here. i mean a dumbbell can turn into a boulder within a turnspan and maaaaybe i don’t like trying to figure out eyezmaze games idk
actually i liked the cube one years ago, they’re one of the better series of little webgames i guess. i’m puzzled
He’s very much an anti-hero in the British mould, so yes. I think trying to make him more sympathetic by actually interacting with people and showing concern for them in this one is a huge mistake.
Overall I prefer 3, which also benefits from a more interesting location and straight up has you taking out a giant tank in a techbase carved in a canyon, so if you want a murderous Metal Gear fix, keep an eye for that one.
Just beat Tacoma today. I actually thought it was really good, unlike Felix. But I’m less cynical and more of a fan of walking simulators. I thought that it presented a very original way to do an “epistolary” game, where you’re exploring and finding not just documents, but damaged metadata of peoples’ movement and conversations as well.
Also, I loved Tacoma’s ending, what a satisfying way to put a cap on the story you slowly uncover over the course of it! I left desperately wanting to know more about the player character and more about what would happen to ODIN.
I hit the softcap(340) in Destiny 2 today and I am not sure I will stick with it beyond finishing the odd leftover story mode or end game weapon quests. It’s been fun but there still isn’t much to do without having people to play with consistently.
are you on pc or ps4
I am on PC due to it being super cheap on Humble Bundle last month
INFERNIUM kept me up till like 5. Real startled and tense corner hours.
Finished deadfire and it never really disappointed. Both its combat and its politics are genuinely good and unique, which pretty much makes it the best Bioware style RPG ever made, all the more remarkable considering how gloomy and rote its predecessor was. I wouldn’t call it essential but it’s altogether worthwhile.
my only real complaint is that they could’ve cut a couple of the smaller mid-game dungeons and gotten it down closer to 30 hours (my playthrough was around 35) with no real loss, it’s not quite at the level of the witcher where even the errands are a delight and I wouldn’t bother with the DLC as I understand that it’s mostly more of this
but this is really just nitpicking as they’re broadly optional anyway save for a small late-game impact & getting you all the way to level 19 to unlock the highest skill tier
Whicher? 1, 2, 3?
I meant 3 w/ the mention of “errands” but 2 at least maintains that high quality throughout too