What Video Games Have You Been Playing? IX: Now With 4K VR!

[Arakhor]

You managed to lose the church, the merchants and the military simultaneously? That takes some effort!

 

[dusters]

Playing a Rogue-like named Hades. The prince Zagreus has to escape from Hades kingdom, slaying beasts along the way. It is in early acess and not yet available on steam, but shows decent promise. A year from now it could be finished and cheaper (20$ now).

 

[Yeekim]

Bought HOMM VII* to play some hotseat with my kid over the holidays.
*(II-III were great for their time, IV was a different game, V was alright, never touched VI).
First impressions are actually very good.
QOL improvement of being able to autoresolve a battle and immediately re-fight manually if unhappy with the result alone nearly brought tears of joy.
Interesting factions and skill/magic system and a good selection of maps.
Not-so-bright AI is probably the weakest point, but for multiplayer it is less of a problem.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I picked up the DLC for Horizon Zero Dawn and have been enjoying the hell out of it. The backstory and lore in this game shines and is easily the best part of the game. The non-melee combat is intense and allows you to use a lot of strategy or just brute-force your through battle. It's a lot of fun and looks gorgeous though I've been having some frame rate issues on my 3-year old PS4.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I found a copy of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity for sale at a small secondhand game shop. Since I can't be a Bulbasaur this time, my player character is an Axew. My partner is a Tepig (named Wilbur).

 

[Birdjaguar]

Played some more POE today.

 

[cardgame]

Now is that Pillars of Eternity or Path of Exile?

 

[Birdjaguar]

Now is that Pillars of Eternity or Path of Exile?

Path of Exile: Betrayal league

 

[Commodore]

The more I play "They Are Billions" the more I come to hate it. On the surface it seems like a really cool idea, but in the end it falls into the same trap that all modern strategy games fall into: It basically just becomes a logistics manager simulation and that simply isn't fun. At least not to me. In my opinion, if I'm spending more time managing my resources than I do fighting against the enemy, then it's a bad strategy game.

It also doesn't help that there are still some severe balance issues and bugs that don't seem like they will ever be fixed since the game is stuck in Early Access Hell and the developers have all but completely abandoned the game. I mean seriously, the game has been out for a year now and the devs still aren't anywhere close to delivering the campaign mode they promised. They just keep pushing back the release date for the campaign mode and have even stopped updating the community on the work they are doing. That's not a good sign and is a clear indicator that the devs are dangerously close to just taking the money they made and disappearing forever.

 

[MaryKB]

Just decided to get Reigns because it has good revies and it's cheap right now.

I ruled for 30 years, so I must have done something right.

Oh how I love Reigns! I always meet such a horrid end, I think my worst is when I'm devoured by wolves.

I've been having problems with Starcraft, my Blizzard connection keeps freezing up and I can't finish my games

And I have a new problem with Civilization 6, when I'm contacted by a computer player, my screen goes completely black and I can't do anything

 

[Phrossack]

Mount & Blade: Viking Conquest lately for me.

My game as an independent Viking captain serving as a merc for Northumbria didn't turn out well. I spent a lot of money deliberately dropping my honor to get cheaper Vikings, and eventually created my own kingdom in northern Ireland from the land of the O'Neill clan, only to lose it to them again. My low honor meant every king distrusted me, which meant they attacked, and since peace was never formally made, and they hate me a lot, it's impossible to make peace now. This is tricky, since I'm a mercenary again and my employers aren't at war with my enemies. So I just wage private war on the Kingdom of Alba and extort their sea traders at every opportunity. My king doesn't like it but hasn't stopped me.

 

[Thorgalaeg]

I am waiting for Bannerlord, but since with all probability we all will be dead and forgotten long before it comes out i only hope our descendants ( I mean the descendants of the human species as we know it) will be able to play it in a distant future, under a dying reddish sun.

 

[cardgame]

release date 2016

never forget

 

[Akka]

In my opinion, if I'm spending more time managing my resources than I do fighting against the enemy, then it's a bad strategy game.

Well, actually, strategy IS about managing and NOT fighting the enemy.
What you are looking for is a tactical game !

I am waiting for Bannerlord, but since with all probability we all will be dead and forgotten long before it comes out i only hope our descendants ( I mean the descendants of the human species as we know it) will be able to play it in a distant future, under a dying reddish sun.

I have been eagerly awaiting this damn game since before they announced it

 

[Samez]

I've been playing Atom RPG on steam. It's an old-school fallout 1/2 like rpg situated in the Soviet Union after a nuclear war in the 80s.
Old school feeling is really strong - it is at times unforgivingly hard so you have to find your way of using the gameplay mechanics to your advantage.
It sucked me in pretty hard (my first game session was 6 hours straight) but as it is a Indie Game there are also some flaws like the lack of several quality of life features and a limited amount of items/equipment.

 

[Ajidica]

Old school feeling is really strong - it is at times unforgivingly hard so you have to find your way of using the gameplay mechanics to your advantage.

How much do you need to know of the underlying mechanics to play it? The game seems interesting to me, but if it is like the recent Pathfinder RPG that came out, where even the positive reviews are saying you basically have to min-max to not get slaughtered, I'm not going to pick it up.

 

[Commodore]

Well, actually, strategy IS about managing and NOT fighting the enemy.
What you are looking for is a tactical game !

Nah, I'm looking for strategy games, I just prefer ones that focus more on military strategy than economic strategy. That's kinda why I don't play Civ as much as I used to and when I do, I only play mods and scenarios that focus more on the military aspect rather than the general nation building aspect.

EDIT: For a good idea of what I like in strategy games, take a look at the first Sword of the Stars game.

 

[Birdjaguar]

WaPo has a best video games of 2018 in this link

 

[cardgame]

If you're still all about turn based games, Commodore, you may want to look at Interplanetary - although economy still matters a lot, especially in the first 10 turns or so.

 

[Samez]

How much do you need to know of the underlying mechanics to play it?...

It is more or less the same SPECIAL system as in Fallout 1 & 2.
In comparison to Pathfinder the mechanics are quite simple.
Having at least one high combat skill (don't go for automatic weapons in the beginning as ammo is quite rare) and high speech skill should help in many situations.