Enjoying my time with it so far. I am only a few hours in, but the story is good and I love the turn-based combat. The base management and RPG elements are very well done and I feel like my choices matter. Will update further as I progress. Join our group: www.maturemindedgamers.com
We got to play this game via Steam Remote Play last night and it worked great. We had never played the board game version, so we went through the tutorial first, and to be honest we were a bit overwhelm, but once we got started it all came together and was really easy to play. The animations and added flavor of bird knowledge mixed with calm music and natural sounds was so relaxing. The game itself has some great mechanics and the random scoring goals keeps the game different on every play. There are many ways to win overall and the draw of the cards can drastically change your approach. This game was a pleasure to play and one that I will come back to over and over. Here is our video if you want to see it in action, it includes our thoughts on the game right at the start, then the game session.
Dysmantle is another post-apocalyptic tale of emerging from a bunker to see what the world is like after being sheltered for a long period of time, though this one is only 2-3 years after the devastation. You come up into a pretty familiar, but overrun world. Immediately you start breaking things down into useable crafting materials. Fighting and salvaging your way from area to area. I like that the combat is fast-paced and requires some dodging. It's not just smash smash smash. The crafting is complex, and there are plenty of save your progress campfires spread around the areas. The only thing that bothers me is that it is a bit grindy, and there are lots of enemies to kill, over and over, they respawn when you camp to rest / craft. Overall for being an Alpha / EA title it's got a great base to build from with plenty of time to work things out and keep expanding. The dev teams seems very active already pumped out 3 patches in its first 2 weeks of life. I think once they get it fleshed out and content filled this might be a very fun and chill zombie survival smasher. First hour of gameplay https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snIcJWKzdww&feature=youtu.be
I've had the privilege of playing Silmaris for a few months now, and it's a really fun game that blends random dice rolls with choices and story telling. I enjoyed the game far more than I thought I would. It's hard to beat, and gives you a reason to keep coming back trying different strategies. While the same missions and story elements reemerge each game, there are a lot of random events that can throw a wrench or even help you out each game. This gives the game replayability and makes it well worth the price tag. Here is a video of me streaming a couple of games. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSrst06vJWc&feature=youtu.be
As a lover of the Fallout Series, I am more than use to bugs and graphical glitches. Yes! You can tell its missing pieces that were at one time planned, with all that said it's a great story, with tons of amazing beauty that I got 90 hours of fun out of. Any time I spend $60 and get 90 hours of enjoyable game time it's a good purchase for me, especially with single player games. Just chill in Night City and take a walk around, you never know what you might find. Here is some streamed gameplay if you want to see it in action. https://youtu.be/P6-0IEkY0zY
Simulation management game that doesn't use money. I was worried at first, but it works really well. Happy thriving resort = more workers, which means you can keep expanding. Accidentally build that snow groomer in the wrong place? No worries no cost to you, just destroy it and rebuild. The game uses the standard interface and controls of the genre, so anyone familiar with simulation tycoon games will be right at home. It features a research tree and 4+ maps of varying difficulty to create your wonderful ski resort on. Here is the first 30 minutes of the game if you want to see it in action. https://youtu.be/WVm0L7NRvpA
This is the type of game that you start playing and hate, then you keep playing and slowly your hate turns to love. Best played with mods that cater to what you want. It can be cluncky and confusing but well worth it if you take the time to learn the systems.
It's not polished nor is the menu's or mechanic's done like you'd expect, but if you get past all that and work out how some of the features function there is a really good game under all the dirt. The combat reminded me of classic Fallout 1 and 2, but not as much fun. It seemed very stiff and overly difficult at times. My favorite part of the game by far is the building and management aspect, which luckily is what you spend most of your time doing. Each scenario offers multiple ways to complete and the overall story is interesting and easy to follow.
It started out buggy, but the developers have worked hard and really made it shine. They've added a lot of new content completely free as well. Including co-op just recently. As a fan of simulation builders, this one sits atop my list of favorites.
After 150 hours in this game I've won maybe 5 times, including once on hard! There are a lot of cool ships and strategies you can take to get to the end and fight the final boss, but it only takes one bad situation to screw it all up. For some reason I never minded starting over again. The game was good before advanced edition came out, now it's a classic without question.
