I purchased American Truck Simulator last night. I have absolutely no idea what prompted me to buy it. I’ve never had any sort of interest in driving a truck. But it was cheap and sounded like a lark. Started playing after I installed, and the next thing I knew, almost 3 hours had passed. It’s an incredibly relaxing game.
Even though I’m an avid gamer, I’ve bought nothing. The prices don’t seem that good. I’ve been getting too many ultra-cheap games on Humble Bundle and Bundle Stars, I think I’m spoiled. Plus I have a lot of games I want to play and a game has to be AAA and/or pretty amazing for me to pay more than $4-$5 for it these days.
About The Witness…
I’m considering buying it, and am taking the advice to avoid spoilers. I just have one question. Is it just about solving puzzles, or is there something like a story to it?
I’m about in hour into gameplay and I’m wondering the same thing. The puzzles are fun but it won’t have any staying power unless I get a story to sink my teeth into.
It’s pretty much just the puzzles. There are some things here and there that are suggestive of a story, and for all I know there’s some backstory outside of the game to explain those things, but the game itself doesn’t tell a story like, say, The Talos Principle.
No story. I mean, there is. But you have to figure it out yourself from looking around. It’s definitely debatable.
Do not quit. A common review is “played an hour and found its just moving lines from one point to another.”
You need to get further…and you need to have a couple major realizations.
Hint:
It isn’t just panel puzzles going on.
I went ahead and risked spoilering myself a bit and delved into some comments I found here and there. Everyone tends to be pretty vague about this game, which is probably good, if it is the sort of game I’m guessing it is. They even tend to be vague about whether or not there is a story.
I’m going to get the game. I’m almost sure there isn’t anything like a story like there is in Life is Strange, or the Portal games, or even one to be uncovered like in Gone Home. Or maybe there are some story-like elements, but anyone who requires a satisfying story will be disappointed.
But I’m also sure that it’s more than just a string of puzzles - there’s something there to be experienced that has more meaning to it than a Sudoku book. Food for thought, at least.
ETA: Looks like it’s cheaper if you also get Braid, which I haven’t played, but heard was good.
OK so I’ve played about four hours of The Witness so far. It reminds me quite a bit of Myst: deserted island, puzzles to solve, some sort of underlying mystery (even if there is no “plot” as such).
I’m posting from my phone but will post more later from home where I can more effectively do spoiler tags.
We should start a thread. I’m playing it with my husband.
It’s, ah… Humbling how much smarter he is about this stuff.
If anyone here has not played Portal and Portal 2 yet stop everything and go get it. For this sale they cost $2.23 for both of them. At that price it is impossible to say no unless you happen to really hate that genre in general.
The Shadowrun series
Cryptarc
Costume Quest 1+2
Prey- Too new to be a great bargain, but I’m happy with it.
Done. Thread here: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=829802
Thanks to suggestions here I’ve picked up The Witness (and Braid), and Ori and the Blind Forest.
I’ve also snagged SOMA; I’m not really into the horror genre, I’ve discovered, but I found the recommendations intriguing and I’ve read that you can get a mod to tone down the dangerous parts so the game is more of an exploration game than a run and die game.
I also grabbed Dawn of Discovery (Anno series). I kinda liked Anno 2070, and it was cheap (I’ll wait until Anno 2205 drops way low to pick that up).
Plus, I tried to buy like four more games only to discover that they were already in my library. So there’s that.
Any of the more actiony AAA games I either already have (like Mordor), or am waiting for the DLC to drop in price in the next sale or two while I play my backlog (like Fallout 4).
As always, I’m on the lookout for really unique high-quality games like Life is Strange or like Valkyria Chronicles. Or any indie-sized gems (a la Witness, Ori, and the other suggestions in this thread that I already own). I’m finding my tastes to be changing a bit these days; I have less tolerance for the frenetic action stuff and I would much prefer being immersed in an interesting story or experience something unique and compelling.
Meanwhile, I’ve been grinding away at ME Andromeda’s multiplayer. Bleah. Go figure.
Bought Assassin’s Creed III. Really enjoying it so far. Enough so that I’ll probably pick up IV before the sale ends.
I bought SimAirport, an early-access game in the style of Prison Architect. This is very definitely Alpha right now - not in the sense that there aren’t enough features, but rather in the sense that it changes rapidly (multiple updates per week).
I bought FTL at last, not that it was expensive before. Sad thing is, I’m only borrowing the PC I have - need to give it back at Christmas - so don’t want to buy too much…
Is Elite Dangerous a good buy at $20 or is it a game that needs all the DLC?
Dropped $20 and got,
Dead Cells
Limbo
Machinarium
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
Considering Subnautica, Sunless Sea and maybe a couple of others. Pretty happy with what I got for $20 though.
I’d like to know this too. I’ve been looking at it as a potential VR space sim.