It’s 35% off on Steam until July 26
Still spending time in The Division 2 as they continue to release story content and events. Not nearly as much time as I used to but I’ll pop in for a night or two to run the plot events and then come back to do an event for another arm patch or backpack trophy. All of my old crew has moved on from the game but it’s easy enough to find a group when I want.
Tried the digital version of Gloomhaven with some friends last week and we amusingly got wrecked in the first dungeon. We all had fun though and identified things we did wrong and will probably try again this week. One guy has played the board game a couple of times, the rest of us are n00bs.
My older son got me to buy Astroneer the other week and we put a few hours into it. It’s fun, though not especially intuitive and I found the tutorial a bit lacking. Part of that might be because my son has played it on console and so was bopping around making all sorts of shit while I was trying to figure out what Resin is.
I’m in a weekly Pathfinder: Kingmaker campaign played via Roll20. We took about six weeks off between DM burnout and various people’s real life stuff but got back into it last week and are having fun. I’ve never played the CRPG version (and am staying away from it for now because I understand it’s quite spoilery).
Played the crap out of Wasteland 3 for a while, trying out different team builds and overall approach. I like to see what happens after making different choices. Went through one play through being the good guys, and another just murdering everyone in the game.
Now I’ve cycled back around to cooking games again. PlateUp and Cooking Simulator mostly, with a little bit of Diner Bros if I can get someone else to play with me (it’s way too much work to be any fun playing solo). PlateUp has Steam Workshop support so it’s fun to mod it up.
We played 2/3 of the IRL version last summer and had a blast. I think the two card + initiative mechanic is really clever especially with the level of thought put into the cards. I thought we would finish it this summer, but we haven’t gotten it out yet.
Most of the summer we have played Terra Mystica (new to us). I’m really impressed how replayable it is. We were playing every night and it still was compelling. It has a lot of competition and player interaction which is important in our house.
Currently we are playing Terraforming Mars (again new to us). This is fun because my kids haven’t completely mastered it yet so Mom and Dad still win occasionally.
On the video game front I just completed Elden Ring. I haven’t done much video gaming in a long, long time and was blown away by how good it was. I completed everything you can do in one run and am embarrassed by how many hours I spent, but it was a ton of fun. Unfortunately I am now way behind on the summer house projects.
Got together with some friends and we played Trickerion this afternoon.
I found Pathfinder: Kingmaker to be something of a petulant DM simulator. I’m not the only one who thinks that. I’ve looked around and I’ve seen people saying they have walked away from gaming tables for a lot less than the situations this game presents them.
I never finished it. I probably won’t…
I recently started playing Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous and I’m finding it to be a much better game - apart from those really awkward puzzles.
I probably will finish it.
On a whim, I picked up Dorfromantik because it’s currently on sale (until 12/21). It’s a tile-matching game sort of like solitaire Carcassonne with hexes instead of squares.
The standard game starts off with a limited number of tiles; some tiles will have a random number attached – these are quests. Fulfill quests to obtain more tiles; to do so, link together tiles containing the number’s background color (e.g.: green for forests) until the specified number (e.g.: 80 trees, 10 farm plots, 6 water tiles, etc.) is reached. Quests which have numbers that end in a + can be linked together.
Scoring is based on how well each tile matches its neighbors and completing quests. Matching each like side is worth 10 points; I somehow got over 10K in my first game. There’s also a sandbox mode; any standard game which has exhausted its supply of tiles can be reopened in the sandbox.
Well worth the $8.40 I spent.
I’ve been looking at that one for a while. Glad to hear it’s pretty good.
I’m generally not a fan of solo games but Dorfromantik plays really was as a solo.
Personally, I’ve been playing The Fox Experiment a lot lately. It’s a new release from Elizabeth Hargrave, a designer I like.
Sounds like a board game version of Niche.
Speaking of board games, did you know there’s one for Dorfromantik? I have no idea how it would work for 2 - 6 players.
Actually, that was the one I was talking about. I haven’t played the online version.
I came in here to post that I am a little bit addicted to Dorfromantik (PC game.) I bought it on a sick day and didn’t expect it to last the weekend. But I spent three hours on it today and if I had more time, I’d be playing it more. It’s one of those “easy to learn, hard to master” games. My highest score so far is 11,000 something. Strategy games are not intuitive to me.
There are a lot of things I like about this game:
- It isn’t timed. You can take as long as you want to make a move.
- The colors are pretty and the landscapes are serene.
- The interface is really clean and easy to use.
- The rules are simple.
- It auto-saves your game (and these games get long… my last one was two hours) so you can pick up where you left off.
Even after a few days of play, I still feel like I’m learning things to improve my strategy. It’s really that perfect mix of relaxing and challenging.
Approved for a quiet day off.
Recently I’ve been alternating playing between Stellaris, Caves of Qud and Final Fantasy VIII (first time in probably 20-ish years for the last one).
Caves of Qud is a roguelike with simple graphics but fairly complicated mechanics under that. It’s heavily inspired by the old Gamma World RPG, and includes a really good mutation system; you can have everything from a literally head-exploding esper to a fire-breathing ten-limbed multiweapon wielder with a stinger.
I’ve been playing a bit of the autobattler game Yi Xian recently. You get a bunch of cards representing fantasy martial arts moves and you build them into a combo. Then you square off against an opponent (real or AI) who has built their own combo and you duke it out. It’s kind of fun to see the different characters and their different moves and the price is right (it’s free to play).
My time lately has been split between Wildermyth and Street Fighter 6
Street Fighter 6 has been more fun that I’d have thought, with a single player mode that’s basically an RPG-lite. You make a character, get introduced to an insane city where everyone just fights as a way of saying “Hey, what’s up?”, meet the Street Fighter cast and become their student to learn moves off them, play some Barbie Dress Up because fashion is always the ultimate end game and there’s some overarching story to it all. The random street fights are typically pretty easy (assuming you’re level appropriate) but it’s fun to beat down three guys at once. Fights against the cast or story NPCs might be more challenging. It’s a much more organic way to “get good” than just grinding against E Honda fifty times. Oh, also there’s a Classic control mode and a new streamlined mode where special attacks are button-bound so you can do cool things without remembering/executing back-back-down-diag-forward-medium kick. Classic has more power/options but, if you’re the sort who otherwise only does cool moves on accident, the new control scheme is great.
Wildermyth would probably be called a “cozy RPG” in today’s terms between its storybook look and vibes. It’s pretty relentlessly charming between its stories and character interactions but also remains a fun tactics level game that isn’t especially hard (on Normal) and blends loss/failure into the overall story so losing a character still feels like adding to your tale. A Legacy system allows you to take previous characters from other stories and include them in your game. Oh, and a companion system that leads to friendships (and marriages) but also rivalries between characters and gives value to each: Characters gain attack bonuses when they see a companion attacked but, when they see a rival pull of a stunt, their own chance to stunt increases in a desire to one-up the other guy.
All in all, a charming game and an easy one to get lost in “One more turn” due to how its played.
Adding Wildermyth to my list, thanks!
Absolutely. Fun in co-op, too.
There have been a few important updates since the release, most of which have improved play quality. Played it this past weekend for like 6 hours. What a great game.
I really like the game called Rainworld as it has a really good ecosystem and lore.