I bought it 9 months ago and I enjoyed it. I’ve played it through from beginning to end twice (although I never beat it at heat level 32!) and I could certainly play it again some day.
I’ve been having fun playing Dispatch recently. Best I can describe it is with the description for it given on Steam (it won the Steam award for outstanding story-rich game):
Dispatch is a superhero workplace comedy where choices matter. Manage a dysfunctional team of misfit heroes and strategize who to send to emergencies around the city, all while balancing office politics, personal relationships, and your own quest to become a hero.
Would you like to elaborate on it more? I looked at it, and it seems more like a superhero themed, story-heavy auto-battler style of the game. The art looks lovely, the setting seems right up my alley, but the combination of auto-battler / dating sim seems a slight mis-match style wise to my preferences.
No shade on the game, just trying to figure out from the Steam clips and video if it’s right for me as a game or if I should consider it more like a visual novel with strong player input.
I guess I’d say it is akin to a Telltale game (like “The Wolf Among Us”). Story heavy, puzzles and quicktime events is how it plays. I think it is called an “interactive narrative genre.” You can upgrade your heroes and, likewise, heroes can be hurt and put out of action which is the gameplay part as you try to juggle it all. Each hero has certain skills so some are better for some taks than others and you need to make good decisions. Also, there are timers so you can’t just wait…things need to be dealt with in a given timeframe which lends to the urgency and “gameplay” feel.
You are definitely there for the story. This is not pew pew gameplay.
I think this one is well written and very well voice acted. I’d suggest looking at a few YouTube reviews before purchasing to get a sense of it. It’s not an overly long game (maybe 12-14 hours) and I don’t think there is much replay-ability to be had. At $30 it might be worth waiting for a sale.
ETA: There is more “game” here than a typical Telltale game.
Yeah, that was my initial conclusion - I’d probably love it as an interactive story, not as a game, and probably will pick up when it’s $19.99 or less. Thank you.
My personal game of the year, don’t be ashamed of putting it on easy mode for the whole game either. It still retains its challenge but less of the long term grind. The story to 1 was awesome and I loved it, and the sequel is everything the first was and better in many ways too.
For anyone on the fence I want to seconded a Keeper recommendation, it’s a blast to go in blind because of the unexpected things! Also I’d argue supporting Double Fine in their endeavors is always worthwhile.
I played Hades for a bit on Game Pass. It didn’t quite suck me in but it was a lot of fun.
The description of Dispatch reminds me of some itch.io game, Mission: It’s Complicated
It’s a Turn-Based Hero Sim/Visual Novel/Choose Your Own Adventure type deal about recruiting and leading (from HQ) a team of superheroes as you also play Cupid so their True Love can defeat the Big Evil. I’ve never played Dispatch and am not suggesting anything, it was just the first thing that sprang to mind. “Horny Superhero Romance Drama” is hardly untilled soil in the genre. Also, it’s free so if anyone wants “we have Dispatch at home”…
Indeed. I had no idea what secrets were coming. It was a fun thing to play blind.
I’m waiting for a better sale but I mentioned that in the General Discussion thread:
I just started to play Town to City, a very relaxing and laid back city builder. I’m really enjoying it so far. Apparently a lot of others are as well. Overwhelmingly positive reviews on Steam.
It’s great! I especially love the freeform road and structure placements… you’re not limited to a grid like you are in Anno or many other city builders. You can make roads that wind every which way, build mazes, cliffside villas, organic looking market districts, etc. It’s idyllic while still being challenging enough to be fun… maybe “cozy-adjacent”?
That’s a great description. The decoration variations are pretty amazing as well. For example, I love how if you drag a street light onto a house, it transforms into either a wall light or a door light, depending on placement.
Similar games tend to overwhelm me with micro-management tasks. This one is much better in that regard.
There is a game called “Freedom Planet” that is a past paced 2d combat platformer, the overall art direction has that 16-bit Genesis aesthetic. The movement is very similar to the classic Sonic but the combat side is more akin to the Treasure’s 90s games making it simple yet fun. The game features 3 characters: The water dragon Sash Lilac, the wildcat Carol Tea and the super dog Milla Basset. Each character playing wastly different than each other with their special movesets. Sash Lilac has a air dash that is very similar to sonic’s iconic spindash but you can do that while being on air essentionally giving you an aerial boost, you can also control to go up or down with the keys and also ricochet from walls to maintain momentum and change directions. Carol Tea, although might seem similar to Sash Lilac has her own Motorcycle that can be activated when you collect a fuel container, which can go faster and allows you to do a double jump. Milla Basset has a movement that is very unique, unlike others she has a special green cube that can be used to boost speed, attack and even block attacks. The stage design is very good, giving it a mixture of speed and platforming alongside with combat focused sections. The music is phenomenal, a very high grade that kind of reminds of Sonic CD by the quality. The story is the all time 90s classic of an evil figurine wanting to take over the world by their means (kind of). Featuring Lord Brevon as the antagonist, a merciless cruel space warlord who conquers any planet he puts eyes upon. The character reminds me of those classic antagonists like Dr Eggman, Dr Wiley and M. Bison. The game takes place in Avalice, the main trio’s homeworld. Where Lord Brevon starts a secret invasion by manipulating one of the leaders into waging a war so he swiftly snatch the Kingdom Stone, a magical orb that powers the whole planet, which to use it for his own evil deeds. But before he could start his plan, a character goes by the name Commander Torque tries to interevene but fails and crash lands on Avalice which starts the journey of our heroes quest to saving the world. The story is not too in-depth, which further supports the 90s feeling. Overall it is usually light-hearted with comedic reliefs but sometimes it tries to be serious yet it kind of makes it look out of place like in one scene characters just joking around then after that something dramatic happens very quickly making it feel a bit out of place but not majorly bad. I overall quite enjoyed the game from its Levels to its bosses. High recommended for those who crave a 90s nostalgic platformer. Difficulty wise you can just select it from the beginning, however keep in mind that the “Hard” mode is something that is not messing around and will give you those ruthless nes games difficulty.
Here’s the link of the game.
I recently added the game Drifter: Star Evolution.
It is a $4.00 game (maybe $4.50 with tax). It is just one of those easy and quick games you can play and be done. There is not much to it. You start as a little asteroid and need to move around in space (this is not a 3D game) and collect other little bits of space debris to increase your mass all while dodging other, bigger things floating around which can smash you and end your game. Once enough mass has been added you upgrade to the next thing (like a planetoid then a planet then a gas giant then a protostar and so on). At each step you can choose an upgrade from a short list (like more gravity but take more damage). You can capture satellites (asteroids or planets as you grow bigger) which orbit you can can be used like weapons to smash other things that get too close.
Eventually you evolve into a black hole which can eat pretty much everything. Game over, try again with different choices. There seem to be some achievements you can get depending on the choices you made while playing.
It’s a fun little game. Not a must-have. Just simple, quick fun (and cheap).
ETA: Comments in the Steam page say this game is basically “Solar 2” with better graphics. Dunno if that helps. I never played Solar 2 but some here may have.
More like “first stage of Spore, but as space dust”
Completed the main storyline in SWO; back in Elite Dangerous for now. With seasonally-appropriate HUD colors (or as close as I can get).
I finished replaying Fallout 3 and now I’m replaying Dragon Age 2 (which has its faults, but I find it has pretty good replayability because of the arcade game-style fights).
Its so sad to see such a beloved franchise lose its identity due to companies prioritising profit on both side while ignoring any other factor.