games

It's a great guide compilation, but I'm sure you are put off by the over 7-hour length of the video. Don't worry, there are many timestamps, and you can just check out those that interest you. The 'getting started' part only takes about 30 minutes, for example.

On another note, Dwarf Fortress Adventure mode releases in beta on the 17th of this month for the steam version.

God bless indie gaming

An adorable rhythm game

Game: Songbird Symphony. Trailer (Also on PC and Switch.)

that's the post

I finished Kuon, which is a really cool survival horror game from a pre-Dark Souls From Software. All of its 3 playable characters are women, of which the final, unlockable one is apparently some legendary Japanese mystic whom the devs decided to gender-swap for the game. The funny thing is that they still made the female Abe no Seimei unflappably cool and ludicrously OP, demolishing all the enemies in the game with ease

Also Japanese writers just love turning male historical figures into girls, don't they

I actually ended up really liking Kuon's writing and characters, so it's interesting to see the devs being kinda weird about their female protagonists

Got some friends together to play through both Files and it's been a blast so far. If you like the old Resident Evils but never had a chance to play Outbreak online or if you did play it online and want to play it again I recommend checking out the fan server on a PS2 emulator.

I run out of shotgun ammo at around 0:30. Watch as I spend the next 20 seconds going to get some more but pick up the wrong box of ammo as I fiddle with the inventory

Lmao

Decided to start up Elden Ring again after having a weird dream about a faith-caster build. Decided to go into RP mode to really discern my dude's path and he's leaning towards the Frenzy ending. Dude woke up, was told he'd have to kill demi-gods, found a prayerbook made out of the skin of a god that taught him Black Flame incantations that could supposedly kill a god. Those worked for awhile until he heard whispers, a frenzied voice if you will, and got into using the madness incantations (because Frenzied Burst is really strong and easy to aim). Yes the black flame is powerful, but this madness calls to him, something to not only kill a god, but end everything and start anew.

Anyway, here's the stats I think I'm doing ok as I am clearing shit, but I kinda wanna do more arcane for dragon shit idk.

Not really looking for advice, but feel free to give some. Or just share ER builds you like, or explain some ways to theorycraft a more intricate build. IDK whatever floats your boats.

So far, I really really liked 'Social Democracy: an Alternate History'

Had to start a new character, decided to play my old love from the Kunark days of a Druid. Screenshot is from the newbie starting zone, killing the spider queen.

She will run through fire, open herself up to opportunity attacks, and use up all her actions to send a squidgy mage into the middle of a battlefield. She says that strategy is boring. As a seasoned Xcom addict, I am dying.

This art style seems fairly novel, at least to me.

I prefers the term of Dialectical Materialism simulator.

It’s a fantasy game for closet commies, as HOI IV is for closet Nazis or Wehraboos in the end

I'm not bothering to read much of this(500 comments?), but after a few minutes quick glance its the usual fairly above average positive response as usual.

I wonder if it is because with the game becoming less popular again most of the mainstream is gone already.

Yes, I'm reviewing something owl related. Yes, I'm incredibly predictable.

Anyway. Owlboy is a side scrolling indie game I had been meaning to play ever since it released back in 2016. Now I finally have, I have something to say about it.

First, a little history on this game. It was released to huge praise due to its highly detailed sprite art. Strangely, despite this positive reception, I don't think it has really stayed in the gaming worlds subconscious in the same way as say, Undertale and other indies have. This could be due to it being released juuuust before the indie gaming boom. It could also just be bad luck.

One of the first things you will hear about this game is that it was in development hell for 9 years. This is a little misleading. Sure, development was technically started in 2007, but it was stopped, started, put aside and picked up again for those 9 years. The lead developer reportedly suffered from severe depression and his fear of releasing an imperfect game was supposedly so bad that the small team of developers restarted the whole thing from scratch 3 times. Wow.

Okay, so on to my thoughts on the game itself.

Gameplay:

Owlboy's genre can be hard to place. Your character can essentially fly and carry/throw things, so there is a lot of platforming. This is paired with the ability to grab the main characters gun wielding friends to basically fly and shoot in sort of a run and gun way, but this isn't really a run and gunner either. It's got some metroidvania elements too, but the best way I can describe it is as a side scrolling Zelda, as you will mostly be using your comrades abilities paired with the players flying to explore dungeons, solve puzzles and beat larger than life bosses as the story and world building is drip fed to you. The pacing is good, with puzzles being somewhat challenging at times without making you feel like you have no idea what you're supposed to be doing. The game does a great job at giving you enviroment hints about what you can do, without holding your hand. It also expects to to master newly introduced things rather fast, without being unfair. There are a few frustratingly difficult bosses towards the end, but nothing (outside of a certain cannon mini game) that will make you feel like it's impossible to beat.

Visuals and sound:

Think of the best sprite art you've ever seen in a game. When I think of a game with good sprite art, I think of the Metal Slug series. I have to hand it to them, Owlboy right up there with Metal Slug in terms of quality. I have never seen such damn pretty scenery. A lot of time and effort when into every little thing on screen and it shows. It manages to look beautiful no matter if the location is a green meadow, a lava filled cavern or a snowy wasteland. The final location in the game, In particular, was awe inspiring. There are some very, very cool set pieces in this game.

The characters themselves have a great art style too. Think Wind waker, in a good way.

As for the music. It's a mostly orchestral with some electronic and synth instruments here and there when it's needed to fit what is happening in the story (Some distorted synth used in a boss theme for a robotic monster, for example). It manages to avoid the "samey" trap of some orchestral OSTs by scoring with the situation or environment in mind so that the music suits what's happening. It somehow manages to time itself perfectly so you get these times where the music, story and gameplay come together to create a moment.

Music example 1

Music example 2

Music example 3

Story:

The story is great, at first it sets up the ancient owls as noble and superior technology wielding scholars, and you expect the "bad guys" (who turn out to be robot slaves made by the owls) to be the "well intentioned but bitter extremist" villains, but the game hints throughout the story that the ancient owls were kind of shit, eventually having one of the heroes outright say "Hey maybe they weren't as great as we were led to believe." This culminates in the final boss simply being an owl like Otus, who is trying to fix the shitty mistakes of his ancestors who have basically doomed the world with their arrogance (long story short, it turns out the ancient owls fucked up centuries ago by trying to cheat death and have doomed the continents to soon float into space). Instead of taking the obvious "idealist villain wants to save the world but is going about it wrong" angle, the heroes instead agree with him and help him save the world in the end.

So overall, while it might not appeal to those who don't like retro games, it was right up my alley, and I was pleasantly surprised.