I modded my steam deck with decky loader and then played Balatro and five seconds of Panzer Dragoon Orta
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When the āah so much family stuff going on aaahā got to me around Christmas I dabbled with a few things.
Anbernic RG Cube: I am convinced that these handhelds work best with Linux. Trying to wrap my brain around the Android file system (also a type of Linux Iām sure, just absolutely fucked) is such a bad time, and then Retroarch being a pain in the ass doesnāt help.
Anyway I had fun playing Marvel vs. Capcom for a bit once I figured out what arcane setting changes had to be made for dual button presses to be recognized on Android.
This is the most capable emulator handheld I own (outside of the Steam Deck, whichā¦Iāve had shit luck setting up EmuDeck, maybe Iām terrible at Linux, too), and is the Last One Of These Iām Going To Get.
Unless the Retroid Pocket Mini or 5 goes on a steep sale. Really steep. Like $100 tops. Maybe Iāll get a bad case of Stupid Brain and start complaining about trying to get Dreamcast working there.
Why doesnāt Redream play CHDsā¦aughā¦
Halls of Torment: hell yeah this is pretty cool. Played it on my phone. Vampire Survivors with a heavy Diablo style paint job and approach. I like itā¦
Ballionaire: still upset that I fucked up my save somehow when my Steam Deck decided to sync mid-game. Maybe my fault for not letting it do that ahead of time. Anyway itāsā¦this is fine. I think I like the aesthetics more than the game itself. Itās a game that dares to ask āwhat if more Plinko than Peggle, but you put little modified pegs on the board and try to create as many chains and score bonuses and manipulate the ball(s) to stay up and bouncing around for as long as possible.ā
Iāve yet to have a winning run. But I really like the little dancing stick man on the title screen, who also pops up and dances when youāre picking buffs between rounds, and the way he says āwowā in a hushed hyper nasal voice when you do.
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Iāve been eyeing this on the Google Play store too, lemme know if it holds up
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Iāve only played about 45 minutes or so of it but it seems alright. Not a ton of meat on those bones (figuratively, so far/literally, lots of skeletons), but you can acquire gear and stuff from boss enemy drops.
Also because I started it on Christmas thereās like the bare minimum of Christmas decor. Some lights strung around the main menu hub, some stray Christmas presents in the levels. Divorced hell dad vibes.
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I will say that if you want a perfect Survivors style game for mobile (or Steam or Switch or whatever, itās a fucking great game), ya gotta check out Brotato. Runs in that game are just long enough, and unlike Vampire Survivors it doesnāt give me a fucking migraine from all the nonstop shit going on at all times.
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i dunno if this is the right thread for it but just throwing a 2024 āgames that are cool to check outā graphic i made in here since i do these every year if anyoneās curious what came out this year
my most played games of 2024 are UFO 50, Isles of Sea and Sky, and B3313 btw
24 Likes
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Did a quick search and the only sisbro I can find talking about Talos 2 is wourme (approvingly, I am gratified to find). Iāve completely fallen in love - has anyone else given this a shot?
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i watched someone else play a prolonged chunk of this - it seems rad and extremely more interesting than the first one (which wasnāt bad, either). the writing i glimpsed was surprisingly excellent
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I mentally checked it off since I binged Talos 1 in only a few sessions and that was not the game to binge. Iām open to good impressions
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I quite like it personally. Thereās a good variety of classes - each with unique upgrade traits you can pull into other class picks through ~shenanigans~. Each class feels well suited to particular play styles and even basic traits reflect this (like higher block gain on the shield maiden). Gear is more akin to a permanent, between-runs build than an ever-changing diablo loot grind. Each level has a unique secret. And it nails the D1 vibe. Only real complaint is you have to get to Agony (an escalating difficulty unlocked after beating each stage once) before it starts to get very interesting, plus the default session length is 30m (too long!)
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I need to get it still, being that I was a big fan of the first talos principle. I just have no motivation for it
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uematsu has been phoning it in for more than 20 years tbh, iām so glad heās off final fantasy
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The best thing I can say about it is that it unflinchingly regards the end of Talos 1 and moves it forward without regard for how that might make for a different game and environment. They just committed. This is what the end of Talos was about so this is what has to be next. I went in without any foreknowledge and was dumbstruck by how bold they were
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Picked up Talos 2 but have yet to get to it, thereās just so many games.
Also I think Iāve played more of @ellaguro 's games of 2024 than pretty much any other list Iāve seen, even if only in demo form for some. I believe this is the 4th time Iāve been reminded that Phoenix Springs exists.
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tbh i forgot about stardust demon, which i probably would have put on the list ahead of Phoenix Springs. that was more of an āsure iāll throw it on here i guessā inclusion. but maybe itās good!
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I liked Mouthwashing, I think it dragged a bit in the last chunk, for as disjointed the structure is initially the eventual slide into gamey repetition corrodes some mystique. Started to feel like I was being led through a screenwriter-y structure. Not exclusively negative, that fewer people and resources can create a two and a half hour film qua game is still cool to me. Felt the same goodwill towards this I would towards a theatrically successful independent film.
That said, the overreliance on (literal) visual metaphor did bring me down. The play with pov is clever. I think Itās always fun to click something in a game and be surprised by the action. But some sequences (in their visual language) were a bit like being put in the shoes of a character in a political cartoon, staring at a huge scroll that says ātaxesā. Especially during sequences that r more mini games, which generally I do like because itās nice to change up the pacing.
These kinds of games where I feel I am obligated to āplay alongā for storyās sake get a little confining when I intentionally or accidentally try something out of boundaries. Iām curious! Paratopic was the worst about this, if I ever got curious about the wrong thing the world would ignore me or wait in annoyed stasis. Mouthwashing is better at nudging towards the next trigger and I get that like, any game can be played obtusely, itās on me to get in line.
But also, thereās a reason many visual novels arenāt 3D pov spacesā¦Iām engaging with a form. In terms of the gameās themes, a loss of agency is relevant, but in terms of how the game uses pov to interrogate it, this is a bit of interference between visual and play language.
But whatever, like the scifi ship stuff, genre sets expectations within specific parameters assumed by the audience beforehand and the story sorta moves around that abstraction when useful. This does that successfully enough and in a way that trusts the audience to think through language and visual depiction more than vast majority of games. That alone to me is worthwhile (idk about $15 for it tho all respect but when I see a movie at least I get to leave my house and be around people. Sometimes things r rough out here economically no disrespect.)
14 Likes
FWIW Iād probably pick the Phoenix Springs demo over the Stardust Demon one, but I do think the latter has a better chance of growing into something over the course of a full game.
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After a trip to a goodwill for a generic usb mouse I finally had the means to play the only game installed on my new gamer laptop: UT99. I joined the most populated server online with 9 human players and it was an Instagib hitscan CTF type game in a very cramped map - so lots of spawning and dying instantly. I had a stupid grin on the entire time. One player had āFree Palestineā as their username.
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I donāt remember what I played. I downloaded a bunch. I also started Legend of Spyro but the visual stimulus of the start menu was too overwhelming so I immediately exited.
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