My favorite RTS of all time. Along with a single copy of Outpost 1, I own several copies of Outpost 2 on CD from the 90's when I used to play it multiplayer via LAN or serial port connection. Even now, during holidays my family sometimes plays it. Gameplay does include a focus on tight time management to be able to keep abreast of how many workers and scientists you have, while avoiding a "zerg rush" where the AI during single player missions sends waves of small attack parties towards you, after sending scouts periodically. The gameplay has a wide variety of units you can control, both combat and logistical. You can create multiple bases using command centers, or make one big one with redundancies and further bolster its damage resistance with the DIRT building. Entire game is voiced/animated and I encourage you to watch a Youtube gameplay video to see/hear. There are two factions, Eden and Plymouth. Each have shared and unique buildings and units, e.g. Plymouth can take over enemy units, while Eden has Thor's Hammer units which shoot pure lighting and has meteor defense buildings. Lava flows post a hazard to ruining your base, and the search for minable resources pushes you into areas you need to safeguard which is especially true once you unlock rare ore mines. You can also trade between players using a trade center. The only thing Outpost 2 severely lacks is a map editor. Outpost 2 used to be freely downloadable from www.outpost2.net. Shortly before it became available on GoG, it disappeared; I'm guessing that's when Activision acquired it. If you buy Outpost 2 on GoG, you can download a community patch which adds over 40 missions, bugfixes for multiplayer, running in native resolution, and other features. Currently Outpost 1 with a DOSBox Config is available there along with a github link to an unofficial HD remake. TLDR: This classic game is a 10/10. You can't beat the style and feel of this game. Anyone who loves a classic PC RTS should pick it up.
While not as long as I expected it would be, Firmament definitely has that Cyan touch. The story was different than I anticipated, and I enjoyed the mystery gnawing at my mind on what it was all about. The ending caught me quite by surprise. It would have been nice for the end scene to be a mid-game goalpost, followed on by further fleshing out the story. Some of the puzzles are challenging because the physics system requires you line things up just right. The graphics were ok, but not as antialiased or smooth as I expected and personally reminded me of Riven. Overall, I'm satisfied with this game. Still glad Cyan is doing their thing. I've played all the Myst games over the years and love them. Firmament could have only been better if it were longer. Perhaps a sequel is in order, eh Cyan?
Well I got the game on sale for about $1.50 which was fantastic. Unfortunately no matter what compatibility modes I tried I was not able to get my game to work on my Win 7 Pro machine. I get a black screen like it's about to play the intro, and nothing happens. I have to open task manager and force close the application, it shows the gog video player process as having crashed. Aaand I can't get my Win XP virtual machine to work at the moment so I'm kinda screwed... hopefully there will be some sort of fix posted eh GoG? You guys do fantastic work, I'd love to see whatever bug is causing this to be fixed.
