Fresh Releases - a thread for discovering interesting new games

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Fresh Releases - a thread for discovering interesting new games

«‹›170 »

ultrafilter: Aug 23, 2007; It's okay if you have any questions.

Carebotz

quote:

What Happens When Classic Asteroids� Meets Metroidvania�? Carebotz is a single-player game featuring Bibz, a maintenance droid and protagonist on a mission to save a derelict factory from destruction. To accomplish this, you must advance carefully as danger lurks everywhere!

# ? May 13, 2021 16:19

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Apr 19, 2024 04:16

Play: Apr 25, 2006; Strong stroll for a mangy stray

Huge post incoming! I play tons of new games so I've got OPINIONS

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1127970/Retro_Machina/

Retro Machina just released the full version, played it quite a bit last night and I REALLY like it. The environments and art are beautiful. It's a nice mix of basic but fun combat, puzzles and exploration. And the world / backstory is slim but intriguing.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1222340/Sockventure/

Sockventure is a devilishly tricky platformer that's pretty addictive. Moving through the levels is challenging enough but getting all the coins really takes some effort. They drip feed you more powers as you go along which totally changes the gameplay and every level is quite different from every other and has unique mechanics. Better than it looks at first, for sure.

Not sure it's worth 15 bucks but it's a good game.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1347970/Patch_Quest/

Patch Quest, the developer has a long series chronicling the development of this game on youtube. Pretty fun so far, more challenging and complex than it appears at first.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1497630/Wheres_Samantha/

Where's Samantha?: fun puzzle platformer about a piece of cloth adventuring out to find his love and conquering puzzles and obstacles along the way.

And some takes on previously mentioned games:

ultrafilter posted:

Smelter looks like a modern take on ActRaiser and it's getting pretty good reviews so far.

Smelter is amazing but it's still buggy, I played it for three hours and then came to find out that it never saved my game properly. Super annoying, I'm sure it'll get fixed though and it's a really fun game. Challenging side scrolling platform/action game. The base building is pretty overrated and a bit silly overall but the levels are really fun, especially the challenge areas which will frustrate and intrigue you.

Donnerberg posted:

Now to see if R-Type Final 2 holds up. It's been ages since last they made one of those. It's out tomorrow on more or less everything.

I couldn't play this at all, I guess I just suck really hard but they don't explain the controls and you seem to die on the first hit which is too much for my weak skillz in this genre

CharlieFoxtrot posted:

I am digging Unbeatable [white label] so much. Free on steam
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1290490/UNBEATABLE_white_label/

I've been waiting a while for this one, stoked there is a free demo gonna check that out today for sure! Thanks!

StrixNebulosa posted:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/598550/HUNTDOWN/

Wait how is this new? I've had this for ages, feel like it was released at least a year ago. Absolutely incredible game, everyone should check it out especially if you like things like that. Kind of reminds me of Katana Zero in that it looks great and is well-crafted, has a good level of challenge and absolutely beautiful pixel art. More action oriented though

Donnerberg posted:

Insurmountable comes out on Thursday. It's another loving procedurally generated roguelike.

Wait! Look here before you dip out.

I got it, it's kind of fun and interesting although I feel like they desperately need new scenarios as they begin to repeat frequently. It's devilishly difficult too, super hard to keep all the required meters (energy, body temp, sanity and oxygen) high enough. I would say the replayability is pretty low, although the unique setting does help it a lot.

# ? May 13, 2021 18:10

The 7th Guest: Dec 17, 2003

Play posted:

Huge post incoming! I play tons of new games so I've got OPINIONS

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1127970/Retro_Machina/

Retro Machina just released the full version, played it quite a bit last night and I REALLY like it. The environments and art are beautiful. It's a nice mix of basic but fun combat, puzzles and exploration. And the world / backstory is slim but intriguing.

I played the demo and it was neat, it's like if supergiant made a puzzle game.

# ? May 13, 2021 18:16

skeleton warrior: Nov 12, 2016

Before We Leave isn't technically new, but it's new to the Steam store after being an Epic exclusive for a year or so.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1073910/Before_We_Leave/

It's an Anno-like, where you lay down building tiles for houses and industries on a hex-grid planet, and tiles can give each other bonuses or maluses depending upon what's next to what. You'll have to colonize multiple islands, and from there, multiple planets, as you gather all of the resources and technology to... something something something because I don't know anyone who has actually gotten beyond the "couple of islands" stage before shrugging and wandering away.

The problem is that the game, in an earnest attempt to be casual and approachable, doesn't give you a lot of useful information. You need food for your people! How much food, how often? Eh. Watch your food inventory and see whether it's going up or down. Do you not have enough food? Maybe you don't have enough local storage? Maybe your supply lanes are too long? Maybe you don't have enough farms? Who knows, there's no way to get that information, so just try changing things and see what happens.

It's... fine when you're on one island, but once you move onto a second island and have to create shipping lanes and manage those lanes because islands produce different things and now you're tracking ten or more commodities by just watching the numbers and trying to identify trends, it's just frustrating and boring. It's not Anno 1800 with its detailed links and defined ratios, it's an Anno from ten years ago with less detail provided.

And then on top of it, there's just an overall theme of despair: the more you build, the unhappier your people get, and the more industries you'll have to put down to provide the goods that make people happy but those industries pollute and add literal gloom to the spaces around them, so you'll need more industries and make more gloom and just in general by the third island I was unsure of why I was making any technological progress when all it did was make everyone unhappy.

On the other hand, it's on sale for $15, and that's practically free, so maybe I just a bad gamer and it's worth your time?

# ? May 13, 2021 20:34

Play: Apr 25, 2006; Strong stroll for a mangy stray

skeleton warrior posted:

Before We Leave isn't technically new, but it's new to the Steam store after being an Epic exclusive for a year or so.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1073910/Before_We_Leave/

It's an Anno-like, where you lay down building tiles for houses and industries on a hex-grid planet, and tiles can give each other bonuses or maluses depending upon what's next to what. You'll have to colonize multiple islands, and from there, multiple planets, as you gather all of the resources and technology to... something something something because I don't know anyone who has actually gotten beyond the "couple of islands" stage before shrugging and wandering away.

The problem is that the game, in an earnest attempt to be casual and approachable, doesn't give you a lot of useful information. You need food for your people! How much food, how often? Eh. Watch your food inventory and see whether it's going up or down. Do you not have enough food? Maybe you don't have enough local storage? Maybe your supply lanes are too long? Maybe you don't have enough farms? Who knows, there's no way to get that information, so just try changing things and see what happens.

It's... fine when you're on one island, but once you move onto a second island and have to create shipping lanes and manage those lanes because islands produce different things and now you're tracking ten or more commodities by just watching the numbers and trying to identify trends, it's just frustrating and boring. It's not Anno 1800 with its detailed links and defined ratios, it's an Anno from ten years ago with less detail provided.

And then on top of it, there's just an overall theme of despair: the more you build, the unhappier your people get, and the more industries you'll have to put down to provide the goods that make people happy but those industries pollute and add literal gloom to the spaces around them, so you'll need more industries and make more gloom and just in general by the third island I was unsure of why I was making any technological progress when all it did was make everyone unhappy.

On the other hand, it's on sale for $15, and that's practically free, so maybe I just a bad gamer and it's worth your time?

I was wondering if I should get this so thank you for the information. I already didn't love how the game looked and I don't really like keeping track of tons of different numbers so that's a 'no' from me.

Anyways,

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1183580/Terra_Alia/

Terra Alia

quote:

Welcome to a world where the use of magic is not so uncommon. Where powerful spells exist alongside the machines of modern day. In Terra Alia, the regulation of magic is left up to each unique nation. To be able to wield your arcane abilities, you must first learn the language of the land.

In an effort to prevent another global conflict, the nations of Terra Alia have joined together in the regulation magic within their lands. To be able to cast, you�ll have to not only speak in a country�s native tongue, but you must also think in it too in order to grow your magical abilities.

Only cool looking thing about this is that it is using real languages. So it is kind of an educational language learning game I suppose. Haven't played it yet but it's a neat idea.

# ? May 14, 2021 19:17

InfiniteZero: Sep 11, 2004; PINK GUITAR FIRE ROBOT; College Slice

Play posted:

I got it, it's kind of fun and interesting although I feel like they desperately need new scenarios as they begin to repeat frequently. It's devilishly difficult too, super hard to keep all the required meters (energy, body temp, sanity and oxygen) high enough. I would say the replayability is pretty low, although the unique setting does help it a lot.

I agree about Unsurmountable. It really feels like a board game to me, right down to the limitation on replayability. It's also part of a subgenre of board game that's out there where you have a goal but the game is really about constantly managing crises. It's a nice challenge but sometimes when I come home from work managing various crises all day the last thing I want to do is fire up Steam and manage virtual crises.

I don't regret buying it at all but I don't think it should really even be billed as a rogue-like because it doesn't feel like that at all. If you're a regular reader of this thread and you also have shelves of cardboard, this is a game you'll want to go for. Otherwise, YMMV.

# ? May 14, 2021 23:00

Arsenic Lupin: Apr 12, 2012; This particularly rapid💨 unintelligible 😖patter💁 isn't generally heard🧏‍♂️, and if it is🤔, it doesn't matter💁.

StrixNebulosa posted:

e: Yooo he also wrote an audio drama starring a dude from Highlander: https://gospelsoftheflood.podbean.com/

Me: Pleasebemethospleasebemethos

It was Methos. Aka Peter Wingfield, now a GP in the UK.

# ? May 15, 2021 03:14

Oldstench: Jun 29, 2007; Let's talk about where you're going.

Blind Drive came out a couple of days ago. It's a game played entirely with audio. You are hijacked and blindfolded and forced to drive 2 Fast 2 Furious just using audio cues. Apparently a great game for non-sighted people as well. Pretty cool idea and I love the fact that it's so accessible.

# ? May 15, 2021 15:25

Barry Convex: Sep 1, 2005; Think of the good things, Pim! The good things!

Like Jesus, candy, and crackerjacks! Ice cream and cake and lots o'laffs!
Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Joe! Larry, Curly, and brother Moe!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1093290/The_Wild_at_Heart/

The Wild at Heart is releasing on Steam, Xbox, and Xbox Game Pass for console/PC on Thursday. Really enjoyed the demo I played last year; it's like a cross between Pikmin, Zelda, and Luigi's Mansion with gorgeous 2D art.

# ? May 17, 2021 16:18

Ramie: Mar 2, 2021

Sparkles and Gems is a Breakout-style game with some pretty standard gameplay and an entirely... unique... presentation.

https://twitter.com/resnijars/status/1378138070277574659

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1517530/Sparkles__Gems/

I have only played an hour or so, but I have certainly got :10bux:

worth out of it and then some. The beginning 2 minutes were a bit of a flop, honestly, but I have been glued to my screen ever since. An easy recommendation for anyone with a soft spot for puzzle games with surprisingly fun storylines, or anyone who just plain wants to experience something with a lot of very human fingerprints all over it, for good and bad.

Ramie fucked around with this message at 18:19 on May 17, 2021

# ? May 17, 2021 18:08

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1290340/AI_War_2_Zenith_Onslaught/

quote:

Zenith Onslaught is the second expansion for AI War 2, and was more than a year in the making. We focused on making the galaxy feel rich and complex and changeable in new ways, as well as adding a metric ton of general new content.

Major New Factions
The Dark Zenith can be set to invade at some point. They then set up their own economy, allying with the Dark Spire if they are also enabled. These can really make even the AI sweat.
The Zenith Architrave, fresh into our universe and desperate to get back to their own galaxy-spanning war. Minor diplomacy may be possible. (Think of these like a vastly more advanced version of the Dyson Spheres in the base game, in that they don't turn the entire galaxy on its head but can be exciting neighbors).
The Zenith Miner, which first sends out probes, and later tries to mine entire planets into pieces. Has a special taste for Dyson Spheres. Hack them for fun and profit.

New Ships En Masse
15 new and elite ships, Cruisers, now seed the galaxy that can greatly enhance your fleet. These powerful ships are both extremely powerful in their own right but each possesses a special feature based on their weapon tech. Two of these can only found by stealing Zenith technology.
11 new Outguard to recruit to humanity's side, each with their own unique contribution, from the Trojan Horse that hides in plain sight before releasing its hidden drone army to the Cornucopia that supercharges your metal generation when you need it the most.
7 new defensive structures, such as the reactive dummy that attracts enemy fire and returns a portion back to the sender, and a reworking of the original to grant every weapon tech their own.
And many new strikecraft, frigates, and stationkeepers to further expand humanity's arsenal! As well as new variants of the base-game golems!

Other Major Features
Nomad Planets make a triumphant return from the original AI War, with options for entire Nomad Galaxies. And yes, you can still become death, destroyer of worlds.
Wormhole borers, dangerous tools in the hands of the AI that allow them to tunnel behind your defenses.
10 devious new AI types.
2 new map styles.

# ? May 18, 2021 18:35

Play: Apr 25, 2006; Strong stroll for a mangy stray

Getsu Fuma Den is a Konami-published roguelite action platformer with challenging and rewarding, relatively deliberate combat and some of the most beautiful and unique art I've seen in some time. It's only released in Early Access at this time but from my experience it is already extremely polished, I wouldn't even know it was early access if it didn't say so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZiIWdg7P_U

So far I like it although it is VERY skimpy on leveling currencies. I played for several hours and didn't obtain enough whatever to make a single upgrade. But the art is just incredible to look at and a huge positive for this game.

Oldstench posted:

Blind Drive came out a couple of days ago. It's a game played entirely with audio. You are hijacked and blindfolded and forced to drive 2 Fast 2 Furious just using audio cues. Apparently a great game for non-sighted people as well. Pretty cool idea and I love the fact that it's so accessible.

This game is pretty fun, and at the very least it does something totally different. Kind of lives and dies on its audio and luckily the audio is good.

Don't buy if you use speakers and/or can't easily hook up headphones because they are an absolute requirement here.

# ? May 18, 2021 18:37

StarkRavingMad: Sep 27, 2001; Yams Fan

StrixNebulosa posted:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1290340/AI_War_2_Zenith_Onslaught/

Along with this, the base game is on sale for 60%, and the first expansion for 50% off. You can all three as a bundle for under $20. I might pick it up, I liked the first AI War and it's certainly different as these type of games go.

# ? May 18, 2021 18:43

Samopsa: Nov 9, 2009; Krijgt geen speciaal kerstdiner!

AI War 2 is loving great, go buy it and support the dev!

# ? May 18, 2021 18:46

fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

Mark & Lara: Partners In Justice looks interesting. It's a co-op deduction game where two players have to fill in information for the other player.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1591670/Mark__Lara_Partners_In_Justice/

quote:

This was actually one of the best co-op games i've played in a long time.
Didn't imagine it to be so exciting when its all text based, but finding contradictions, searching for stuff, was so much fun. I was it was longer, and i really hope it gets a longer sequel.
this is so fun to play with a/ boyfriend or good friend!!! finished in less than 2 hours, but for 3.99 euros, its completely worth.

quote:

What a cool concept. Unfortunately, I think that technical limitations hold this back significantly. It relies a lot on searching the in-game computer system for hints, which is a really cool concept until you realize that if you search a slightly different term, it will give you nothing, and some search terms are quite specific. I feel terrible leaving a negative review, because the developers for this game are incredible and quite involved with the community, but the gameplay is really lackluster for how cool of a co-op game concept this is. My advice for a sequel would be to literally have a database of a bunch of random info and actual clues that you can search for like a REAL BROWSER, otherwise it's almost impossible to find anything without hints.

quote:

Fun game, but terrible translation! We laughed at a lot of the lines for how awkward they were written. Developers, please get a proper translation!!

# ? May 18, 2021 23:07

Lutha Mahtin: Oct 10, 2010; Your brokebrain sin is absolved...go and shitpost no more!

skeleton warrior posted:

Before We Leave

And then on top of it, there's just an overall theme of despair: the more you build, the unhappier your people get, and the more industries you'll have to put down to provide the goods that make people happy but those industries pollute and add literal gloom to the spaces around them, so you'll need more industries and make more gloom and just in general by the third island I was unsure of why I was making any technological progress when all it did was make everyone unhappy.

Isn't the goal of this game to develop a society that doesn't pollute? Your description sounds completely the opposite of how the game bills itself.

# ? May 19, 2021 03:21

skeleton warrior: Nov 12, 2016

Lutha Mahtin posted:

Isn't the goal of this game to develop a society that doesn't pollute? Your description sounds completely the opposite of how the game bills itself.

You literally can't leave the first island without turning on a wood-firing power generator and getting iron smelters working, which all churn out pollution. And you need more power to run the industries that get you into space, which is more industries churning out pollution to get the rocket materials, and more industries churning out pollution to get happiness materials to offset the growing population that is suffering from industry, and that all needs power as well, so it's either more polluting wood-firing power generators or move up to even-more-polluting-but-more-powerful-oil-firing-power.

And the entire point of the game seems to be to get into space, so yes, the entire game drives you to pollute and grow your people which makes everyone unhappy (and requires more polluting industries to offset).

Maybe there's a way to run it so that your industry is dispersed and surrounded by forests for the happiness/anti-pollution bonuses? But the fact that you need power and power plants have very limited range - and the fact that industries give bonuses to production and supply if they're placed next to other industries - seems to work against that. Maybe you're supposed to just do the minimum you possibly can and provide a bare subsistence life for your people so they're mostly unhappy because of a lack of luxuries rather than super unhappy because of pollution and crowding to provide those luxuries - but because the island trading system and the commodity trackers aren't very detailed it's hard not to lean into over-production to keep from getting pelted with constant shortage announcements.

Maybe later in the game, after you get into space and do more research, you can make non-polluting industries and dial the devastation back, but I've never had the interest or the patience to put up with the bad information management of the game long enough to get there.

# ? May 19, 2021 04:36

Play: Apr 25, 2006; Strong stroll for a mangy stray

Rising Hell is coming out with the full version this week. I've been playing the early access version for a while and it's an awesome game and great time killer. It gets challenging without being too tense, the vertical levels are fun and the way the combat works is also cool, where you don't actually need to press a button to attack if you just move up or down into an enemy at the correct time. The pixel art is incredible and very vibrant with lots of bright colors, exactly what I love in pixel backgrounds, plus the guitar solo-heavy metal soundtrack is awesome.

You can still get the free demo, and the full game is under ten bucks right now as well. Watch a video of it to see what I mean, the art and general looks are excellent.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/657000/Rising_Hell/

Just Die Already looks right up my alley, I haven't played it yet but it's releasing tomorrow. From the makers of Goat Simulator which I didn't love to play but was fun/funny to watch. Thinking of checking this one out because it looks more polished and just downright silly, good game to play with friends.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/979070/Just_Die_Already/

# ? May 19, 2021 20:48

AARP LARPer: Feb 19, 2005; THE DARK SIDE OF SCIENCE BREEDS A WEAPON OF WAR; Buglord

Thanks for all the time everyone's spending on these posts and the good game info, everyone. I just picked up AI War 2.

# ? May 20, 2021 07:28

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1306630/Lost_Ruins/

quote:

Lost Ruins is a 2D side-scrolling survival action game, where you play as a young girl that has awoken in a strange and foreign place without her memories. Explore a dark and dangerous world, battle hideous monsters, and topple incredible bosses.

quote:

This game is seeing some mixed reception due to what I believe are misplaced expectations, and I hope to clear that up with this review, if I can.

If you play Lost Ruins, you're either going to treat it like any other action platformer and get really frustrated because it feels like a crappily-designed action platformer, or you're going to realize that it's less about action and platforming and more about using resources appropriately, at which point you'll probably start having fun.

Case in point (minor spoilers for the early game):
I fought the first boss. I kept trying to block and dodge attacks and counter like I was playing Castlevania, and guess what? I got my butt handed to me like a dozen times - sometimes just by the two minions that showed up at the start of the fight. Then I opened my inventory and took a look at my items. I noticed that the swimsuit equipment I'd just acquired rendered me immune to lightning damage spreading through water. I also had a rather cheap 3 MP spark spell that would electrify said water... and the whole fight took place in a knee-high puddle.

I proceeded to equip the swimsuit and take almost zero damage while repeatedly electrocuting the entire battleground until the boss was dead.

This is one of those games.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1597270/Crime_Reaper/

quote:

It's murder sudoku � solve crimes and impress Death in your new afterlife puzzle career!

quote:

Crime Reaper is a fun puzzle game. Anyone who enjoys logic puzzles will find this title a great time. The story is full of humor but doesn't take up your time in between rounds.

Much like sudoku you need to only one type of clue in each column, row, and box. The some rules for clues are explained per puzzle. The interface is clean and readable.

# ? May 20, 2021 13:41

Samopsa: Nov 9, 2009; Krijgt geen speciaal kerstdiner!

https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/p/unexplored-2

Unexplored 2 Early Acces just dropped exclusive on Epic, and now you also get a renewable coupon for 10 bucks off, so it's only 8 bucks at the moment! Absolutely loved the first one, this seems different but still rad.

quote:

Unexplored 2: The Wayfarer's Legacy

Procedural roguelite RPG in a vast world
Unexplored 2 creates a vast, rich fantasy world for you to discover. It has a cool twist on permadeath: your character may die, but the world might persist. The game is an ambitious, procedural action-RPG without grind, xp, or gold. Instead the story is all about your choices and their consequences as history unfolds.
As the titular Wayfarer you take on the quest to destroy the Staff of Yendor, for which you�ll have to traverse your world. Along the way you�ll meet tribes, encounter magical creatures and explore ancient ruins to discover mythical weapons and historic items.

A word from our Game Director
�Unexplored 2 is an Early Access game; it is not yet finished. The game is playable from start to finish, but you should expect more content to be added at a regular pace. New items, new enemies, new side quests, new variations on the main quests and even new game modes will arrive in themed packages. The procedural nature of the game makes it easy to slip in all the new content naturally. Every time you are ready to start a new world there will be new things for you to discover.�
-- Joris Dormans, Game Director of Unexplored 2

When you die�
The game is challenging and you will die often. You may make a wrong choice, take on one too many creatures, or forget to stock up on food before traveling a desert. Whatever the reason, when your character dies, they�re gone. No autosaving or quickloading.
However, you can choose to continue your adventures with a new character in the same world, a few years later. Your new character will witness the result of the choices your previous adventurer made. You can leave items in a safe spot, ready for your next Wayfarer to pick up and use.

The world ends
You can try to fulfill your quest to destroy the Staff of Yendor with consecutive Wayfarers in the same world. However, when you die during your final mission, your world ends. Permanently.
So, make sure you are prepared well and know everything there is to know about the last and most dangerous part of your adventure.
When you fail, that world vanishes. The only thing left to do is to generate a whole new world with its own history, and begin the quest anew.

Key features
Radical content generation: Ludomotion's radical approach to content generation creates many layers of unique content, every time a new world is generated.
Generative storytelling: Though every Wayfarer's ultimate goal may be similar, every hero will have their own world, story, and encounters.
Systemic depth: The game features many systems and you will discover something new every time you play, even after hundreds of hours of gameplay.
Legacy system: Actions of your past heroes impact the fortunes of those that follow in their footsteps. Use your legacy wisely to give your successive adventurers greater hopes of completing their quest.
Permadeath in a persistent world: When your hero dies, they stay dead. But you can choose to return to the same world with a new Wayfarer. Or, if you prefer, begin a new adventure in a completely unexplored world.
Unique presentation: The worlds in Unexplored 2 are presented in a unique and beautiful art style, beyond what is conventionally expected from a generative game. A stylish lighting system sets the mood and adapts to the time of day and local weather conditions.
Orchestral adaptive soundtrack: Your adventure is accompanied by an orchestral, original soundtrack which reacts to the action and decisions you make as a player

# ? May 20, 2021 17:29

Play: Apr 25, 2006; Strong stroll for a mangy stray

Galactic Mining Corp is a nice-looking base-building/mining roguelike. Not sure how it's exactly gonna work but it seems it's a gameplay loop of upgrading your base, exploring the space around you and a little mining minigame where you descend into the planet. Nice art, looks fun, no clue if it will be decent at all.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1218500/Galactic_Mining_Corp/

quote:

Galactic Mining Corp is a unique rogue-lite, action game with crafting and base building mechanics. Head into uncharted space and discover a universe of locations to exploit for riches! Use your profits to expand your HQ, hire a crazy work force, obtain new drill components and upgrade everything.

Tiny Space Academy looks like Kerbal Space Program except for morons like myself. Basically a mobile game in looks but it might be interesting, and I enjoy building rockets.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1519890/Tiny_Space_Academy/

quote:

Tiny Space Academy is a 2D space sim where you can grow your own space agency and explore our solar system with rockets you design! Learn basic orbital mechanics, run science experiments, and get your astronauts back to Earth safely.

The Wild at Heart is a cute-looking, hand-drawn isometric adventure game that I guess has some Pikmin elements where you use little sprites to fight monsters and solve puzzles

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1093290/The_Wild_at_Heart/

quote:

A mysterious hidden realm. Two precocious kids fleeing hardship. Magical creatures and an oddball order of guardians who have lost their way. A stygian evil imprisoned. Welcome to the Deep Woods.

StrixNebulosa posted:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1306630/Lost_Ruins/

I kind of agree with the reviewer, but the game also just isn't as quality as I expected. There are some decent pixel animations but most are kinda bad. I do like the focus on survival and item use, it's okay. Just an average game in the genre I would say.

# ? May 20, 2021 17:30

Sway Grunt: May 15, 2004; Tenochtitlan, looking east.

Play posted:

Galactic Mining Corp is a nice-looking base-building/mining roguelike. Not sure how it's exactly gonna work but it seems it's a gameplay loop of upgrading your base, exploring the space around you and a little mining minigame where you descend into the planet. Nice art, looks fun, no clue if it will be decent at all.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1218500/Galactic_Mining_Corp/

I played the game that this is a sequel to - GEO - for like 45 hours. Can't say how much this sequel changes but it looks pretty similar. GEO was all about making numbers go up - hold left-click to drill down, collect piles and piles of different types of rocks, unlock stuff, collect more stuff, upgrade your stuff, move to next planet, drill, collect, grind, make numbers go up, over and over again. There were elements of an idle clicker in it, for sure. But it was exactly the kind of addictive game I needed for my insomnia-plagued nights at the time, just turn your brain off and grind.

The main issue with it was the UI, which was a pain to navigate, but the dev supposedly worked on improving that for the sequel. Hopefully it was a success. It's worth a try for anyone who enjoys/needs the occasional mindless grind.

# ? May 20, 2021 17:47

StrixNebulosa: Feb 14, 2012; You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1406780/Viscerafest/

Early access

quote:

Viscerafest is a Sci-Fi Fantasy Singleplayer Arena FPS with minor Collectathon elements. Fight through hordes of aliens and eldritch monstrosities wielding a slew of powerful weapons, juggling your resources, and exploring over 26 intricately designed hand crafted levels.

PS I love seeing others covering new games in here, it really brightens my day!

# ? May 20, 2021 18:34

Arbetor: Mar 28, 2010; Gonna play tasty.

I played a few hours of Galactic Mining Corp, and the above post is pretty accurate. It is a very skinner box type game, do a basic task, get upgrades to make numbers go up and do the basic task better. The controls for the mining are simple and occasionally finicky. You use the mouse to control the center of the mining drill rig, not the location of the drill. This makes it easy to rapidly drill in a direction, but sometimes precision drilling, or avoiding over-drilling is difficult. My biggest complaint is there are piles and piles of things to upgrade - literally every tile you can mine (grey rock, yellow rock, grey sand, yellow sand, etc.) can be upgraded to get tokens, every item you find while mining can be upgraded to get tokens and bonuses, every room in your base, every employee can be upgraded, but there is no indicator in the main base UI to let you know upgrades can be made. I lost a bunch of crew xp because I forgot they could be upgraded, and they don't accumulate xp if they are at the cap for the level.

In summation, if you ever wanted a game where you can just check off huge number of upgrades, take a look. I sometimes get that urge to just click boxes in a big tree, and this scratches that itch.

I also played Crime Reaper, and it is a pretty good logic puzzle type game. I almost immediately set it to Expert difficulty, and it consistently is difficult enough to be engaging without ever stonewalling me hard enough to make me guess. I would love an in-game way to make notes or tag cells, but I have developed a system that works well enough. Even a couple more rows of places to put tiles would help.

And I would like to join the people saying thank you for posting here, it is a great resource.

# ? May 20, 2021 18:43

StarkRavingMad: Sep 27, 2001; Yams Fan

Samopsa posted:

https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/p/unexplored-2

Unexplored 2 Early Acces just dropped exclusive on Epic, and now you also get a renewable coupon for 10 bucks off, so it's only 8 bucks at the moment! Absolutely loved the first one, this seems different but still rad.

Oh, I'll have to grab this, the first one was really cool.

# ? May 20, 2021 19:28

Sloppy: Apr 25, 2003; Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.

Samopsa posted:

https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/p/unexplored-2

Unexplored 2 Early Acces just dropped exclusive on Epic, and now you also get a renewable coupon for 10 bucks off, so it's only 8 bucks at the moment! Absolutely loved the first one, this seems different but still rad.

Wow, that looks super cool. Thanks for the heads up, I've never even heard of the first one despite hanging out in the Roguelike thread sometimes.

# ? May 20, 2021 19:52

Play: Apr 25, 2006; Strong stroll for a mangy stray

Arbetor posted:

And I would like to join the people saying thank you for posting here, it is a great resource.

Agreed! New games are my favorites. I often get bored of games pretty quickly so I am always looking for something new that I can sink a few hours into, and maybe even beat if it is good enough

# ? May 20, 2021 19:55

kirbysuperstar: Nov 11, 2012; Let the fools who stand before us be destroyed by the power you and I possess.

StrixNebulosa posted:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1306630/Lost_Ruins/

Gonna vote against this one because a key item you get off a boss is panties that are described as being stained yellow.

# ? May 20, 2021 22:55

Oldstench: Jun 29, 2007; Let's talk about where you're going.

kirbysuperstar posted:

Gonna vote against this one because a key item you get off a boss is panties that are described as being stained yellow.

Color me surprised...

# ? May 20, 2021 23:07

Acerbatus: Jun 26, 2020; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

StrixNebulosa posted:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1306630/Lost_Ruins/

This definitely looks like it started off as a hentai game.

# ? May 20, 2021 23:10

doctorfrog: Mar 14, 2007; Great.

AI War 2's expansion landed on GOG today (been on Steam a couple days already as earlier posts will attest), and since that's where I already have the base game and first expansion, I bought it there.

https://www.gog.com/game/ai_war_2_zenith_onslaught

The clowns at GOG put Amazing American Circus, a... circus themed card battler? up on their top carousel too.

https://www.gog.com/game/the_amazing_american_circus_the_ringmasters_edition

quote:

In The Amazing American Circus, you�ll build a circus empire from scratch. Flesh and blood opponents, as well as characters known from the American folklore, will stand in your way to success. You�ll come across violent crimes and social inequalities. As a novice owner of a small and run-down circus, you�ll have to face the historic giant of this industry - P.T. Barnum. Can you defeat him?
...
Deliver a perfect show in a special card duel between you and the audience. Their boredom is your enemy, and your performances and tricks are the best weapons. Choose your cards wisely and try to figure out the mood of the crowd. What�s attractive in the deep South won�t necessarily work in the industrialized North!

# ? May 21, 2021 01:47

Morpheus: Apr 18, 2008; My favourite little monsters

Arbetor posted:

I played a few hours of Galactic Mining Corp, and the above post is pretty accurate. It is a very skinner box type game, do a basic task, get upgrades to make numbers go up and do the basic task better. The controls for the mining are simple and occasionally finicky. You use the mouse to control the center of the mining drill rig, not the location of the drill. This makes it easy to rapidly drill in a direction, but sometimes precision drilling, or avoiding over-drilling is difficult. My biggest complaint is there are piles and piles of things to upgrade - literally every tile you can mine (grey rock, yellow rock, grey sand, yellow sand, etc.) can be upgraded to get tokens, every item you find while mining can be upgraded to get tokens and bonuses, every room in your base, every employee can be upgraded, but there is no indicator in the main base UI to let you know upgrades can be made. I lost a bunch of crew xp because I forgot they could be upgraded, and they don't accumulate xp if they are at the cap for the level.

In summation, if you ever wanted a game where you can just check off huge number of upgrades, take a look. I sometimes get that urge to just click boxes in a big tree, and this scratches that itch.
would help.

And I would like to join the people saying thank you for posting here, it is a great resource.

This sounds extreeeeeeemely like my poo poo.

# ? May 21, 2021 13:40

Play: Apr 25, 2006; Strong stroll for a mangy stray

Morpheus posted:

This sounds extreeeeeeemely like my poo poo.

I played it yesterday, not gonna lie I was hoping for a bit more gameplay. Mining is okay I guess but I do see it getting old doing it over and over again. Regardless of what or who you are upgrading all it does is have some effect on your drills speed or resistance.

Still somehow managed to waste at least two hours yesterday on it lol. The dopamine is real. But it is essentially an idle game so don't mistake that

# ? May 21, 2021 19:36

Play: Apr 25, 2006; Strong stroll for a mangy stray

Anyways, some new games:

Mayhem in Single Valley is a pixel/voxel puzzler from a 3/4 overhead view that looks kind of interesting.

quote:

In this fast-paced, puzzle-loaded action adventure, you�ll juggle housework, zombie hordes, family dinners and radioactive squirrels! Oh, and you have to prevent the end of the world while keeping everyone from finding out it was all your fault.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/622680/Mayhem_in_Single_Valley/

Sunshine Heavy Industries is a single player story-based 2d spaceship construction game/sandbox. Looks kind of like the bridge games or the ski lift games where you are given a set of requirements and need to put together a space ship that meets them all without overspending. Looks pretty interesting and I enjoy building games like this. Just released into early access I believe, although the game's story is fully done and anything they add would probably just be more spaceship parts and maybe more missions.

quote:

Welcome to Sunshine Heavy Industries, the newest shipyard in this arm of the galaxy. Design 2D ships around increasingly tight constraints. There are countless solutions to every level, and room for all kinds of shipbuilding style and flair.

Meet a colorful cast of space weirdos and help them build their dream ship, while your business partner finds new ways to screw up your reputation with the local pirates.

Assemble spaceships from a wide variety of parts!
Design creative solutions to open-ended problems!
48 levels, with more on the way!
Charming story with a cast of colorful space dweebs!
Tons of replay value!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1542810/Sunshine_Heavy_Industries/

# ? May 21, 2021 19:51

Dr_Amazing: Apr 15, 2006; It's a long story

Play posted:

Anyways, some new games:

Sunshine Heavy Industries is a single player story-based 2d spaceship construction game/sandbox. Looks kind of like the bridge games or the ski lift games where you are given a set of requirements and need to put together a space ship that meets them all without overspending. Looks pretty interesting and I enjoy building games like this. Just released into early access I believe, although the game's story is fully done and anything they add would probably just be more spaceship parts and maybe more missions.

Gave this one a shot. It's pretty fun. My biggest complaint is that it's (so far) pretty easy. I never felt like I was having trouble beating a level. I always had enough money that I didn't really need to work too hard optimizing my designs. It could really use some a ranking system or some sort of bonus reward to encourage squeezing out that extra bit of efficiency.

# ? May 22, 2021 03:47

Hwurmp: May 20, 2005

Mind Scanners

quote:

Greetings. Your Mind Scanner request has been approved. Your duty is to diagnose and treat the citizens of The Structure. The patient list is long so don't waste your time. We�ll let you see your daughter soon...

quote:

Manage your time and resources to aid the citizens of The Structure

Diagnose your patients by analyzing their views of the world

Operate and master a variation of arcade-style devices to treat your patients

Spend your ₭apok and science points to develop new devices

Face difficult moral choices and ethical dilemmas

Report the resistance group Moonrise or join them to help their cause

Gain the trust of The Structure if you want to see your daughter again

quote:

Was waiting for this game for months. Heavy fan of games like this, including titles such as We, The Revolution, Not Tonight, Yes Your Grace. Have to say that out of all these, the game is much more reminiscent of Papers, Please. Instantly loved the game. It's a bit difficult to learn especially if you have no prior experience, but the overall game is very well made. Very fun experience

# ? May 22, 2021 09:59

Jeffrey of YOSPOS: Dec 22, 2005; GET LOSE, YOU CAN'T COMPARE WITH MY POWERS

Hwurmp posted:

Mind Scanners

I bought this on a whim and it's okay so far. I lost already but I'll try it again. It is a LOT like Papers Please with different theming. The minigames to treat people feel kind of hard but I imagine they will get easier with practice.

# ? May 22, 2021 10:58

Lakbay: Dec 14, 2006; My eye...MY EYE!!!

Barry Convex posted:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1093290/The_Wild_at_Heart/

The Wild at Heart is releasing on Steam, Xbox, and Xbox Game Pass for console/PC on Thursday. Really enjoyed the demo I played last year; it's like a cross between Pikmin, Zelda, and Luigi's Mansion with gorgeous 2D art.

This game is really good! I didn't play Pikmin 3 but it scratches a Pikmin itch I didn't think I had

# ? May 22, 2021 17:07

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Apr 19, 2024 04:16

Play: Apr 25, 2006; Strong stroll for a mangy stray

Dr_Amazing posted:

Gave this one a shot. It's pretty fun. My biggest complaint is that it's (so far) pretty easy. I never felt like I was having trouble beating a level. I always had enough money that I didn't really need to work too hard optimizing my designs. It could really use some a ranking system or some sort of bonus reward to encourage squeezing out that extra bit of efficiency.

Yeah same. So far the restrictions are too easy to meet, even if you are inefficient with your setup. You do get more money but like you said I always have more than enough money to get the new parts from the shop, which is the only place you can spend money. I totally agree, I think they should either tighten the restrictions so they are harder to meet, or at the very least institute a grading system where S is like, the most efficient possible setup. I do enjoy building space ships in it, and I like the humor in the dialogue sections, but it's definitely a slim game.

Lakbay posted:

This game is really good! I didn't play Pikmin 3 but it scratches a Pikmin itch I didn't think I had

Yeah I like it so far! Although it's almost more of a hidden object/puzzzle game than anything else. Best quality is for sure the hand drawn art which just look gorgeous. Story is interesting. Not a lot of challenge though so far, although I only have one type of Spriteling so maybe it gets harder later.

New games:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1253520/Heidelberg_1693/

Heidelburg 1693 is a gruesome side scrolling platformer/action game which reminds me a LITTLE bit of Blasephemous, although it is a bit more primitive and the movement is nowhere near as smooth. A lot of the challenge comes from your limited movement and attack abilities. You have a muzzle loading gun that you literally have to stop moving and spend several second packing another cartridge in, plus a sword and a jump slash move. The still frame cutscenes are brutal, as are the enemies, and it seems like you are fighting someone called the Moon King (as opposed to the Sun King of France) who has "flesh art" or the ability to mold people and animals. High challenge level I would say.

quote:

Black magic in the age of pike and shot! Reload your musket after every blast in �Heidelberg 1693�, a challenging 2D action adventure set in a dark and twisted vision of Germany in the late 17th century.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1432200/Not_Another_Weekend/

Not Another Weekend is a point and click adventure game set in the 80s where you are a... well, lemme just copy the description:

quote:

A wacky point n click adventure game featuring a bellboy who needs to empty a hotel from its guests. He only has 2 days. Can he make it?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1134100/Frozenheim/

Frozenheim is a Viking-setting basebuilder with RTS elements where you are in charge of a Viking settlement, developing it and sending them out on raids and doing other things I assume. Nice graphics but has mixed reviews on Steam at this point.

quote:

Frozenheim is a serene Norse city builder with elaborate management gameplay and RTS tactical combat. Lead your Viking clan through hardships of the frozen north, season by season, year after year. Build and survive. Set sail, explore and conquer. Win Odin�s favor and secure your place in Valhalla!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1290000/PowerWash_Simulator/

Power Washer Simulator is... exactly what it says on the tin. The ultra-sastisfying feeling of cleaning things with a power washer, but on your computer.

quote:

Release the Pressure with PowerWash Simulator! Wash away your worries with the soothing sounds of high-pressure water. Fire up your power washer and blast away every speck of dirt and grime you can find, all with the simple satisfaction of power-washing to a sparkling finish.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1042380/Hundred_Days__Winemaking_Simulator/

This game isn't super new but I'm not sure if it made it on here. Hundred Days: Winemaking Simulator has a very nice and cute art style, in-depth effects on your grapes and has you guide a vineyard through every part of the winemaking process.

quote:

Winemaking could be your best adventure. Make the best wine interacting with soil and nature and take your winery to the top. Your beautiful journey into the winemaking tradition starts now.

Play fucked around with this message at 22:07 on May 22, 2021

# ? May 22, 2021 22:04

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Fresh Releases - a thread for discovering interesting new games

«‹›170 »