What game are you playing or looking forward to play?

[L0n3Gr3yW0lf]

I hope it will be a busy thread and a few gamers out there. What games are you currently playing or looking forward to play or purchase (if not available yet)?

I am getting quite interested and excited about Starfield (from Bethesda) because I love Sci Fi (Mass Effect is one of my favourite franchise of all time and works of art in my opinion) and open world nature WITHOUT MMO aspect will give it a very long playtime and hundreds of hours of fun. Basically Skyrim in S P A C E E E E E E !

Next one is Stormgate from the guys that left Blizzard and made StarCraft II. I can't wait to see what they can bring to RTS because this genra is slowly being abandoned and I don't want that, I love me some good Real Time Strategy game.

Homeworld 3, is a game I have been waiting for over 20 years and this saga is one of the most epic and revolutionary (back in its hayday). I still play the remastered original and Homeworld 2 today.

Company of Heroes 3, no one has made a WWII RTS like Relic Entertainment, their sound design is top notch (this Pak. 8.8 cm and mortars just booms in my headphones) and it makes the battlefields feel so much more engaging. And the squad base mechanics and cover stats is just brilliant. (This one is out since February 2023)

Halo Infinite, I just wish my laptop could handle it but it can't play well enough with only 6GB VRAM. I will have to wait until I can build a PC with a good GPU to get smooth 60 FPS. I don't care much for the multiplayer, it's the story campings that I always loved about Halo series.

 

[gryphon1911]

I’m looking for an alternative to call of duty. It might be battlefield, but not 100% on that yet.

Might also see what the new Street fighter 6 has to offer. Been a while since I got into a street fighter title, more of tekken person when it comes to fighters.

 

[L0n3Gr3yW0lf]

I’m looking for an alternative to call of duty. It might be battlefield, but not 100% on that yet.

Might also see what the new Street fighter 6 has to offer. Been a while since I got into a street fighter title, more of tekken person when it comes to fighters.

Have you seen the MK trailer, they are rebooting it as Mortal Kombat I with the story from the 11. It looks awesome and I am quite excited to play it this autumn, I got the MK 11 on my Switch and it was a lot of fun. I haven't played a Street Fighter since IV Turbo on PC years ago. I only played Tekken 25 years ago on a PlayStation at the arcade.

 

[William Lewis]

Been getting back into Warframe because the Duviri Paradox update is exquisite. Still the best space Ninja shooter made.

If not that, I'm playing online Caracsonne or Catan with my GF.

 

[gryphon1911]

Have you seen the MK trailer, they are rebooting it as Mortal Kombat I with the story from the 11. It looks awesome and I am quite excited to play it this autumn, I got the MK 11 on my Switch and it was a lot of fun. I haven't played a Street Fighter since IV Turbo on PC years ago. I only played Tekken 25 years ago on a PlayStation at the arcade.

Yes, did see the MK reboot. I liked the first one, but I was never one that gelled with the memorization of the combinations for finishing moves. Also, after MK2, they switched more to the Killer Instinct combo system and was kind of DOA for me after that.

Tekken 6/7 are pretty good. The game play and mechanics have not really changes a lot since Tekken 2, honestly - more of a graphical improvement over time and adding new characters and boosting the storyline.

 

[L0n3Gr3yW0lf]

Been getting back into Warframe because the Duviri Paradox update is exquisite. Still the best space Ninja shooter made.

If not that, I'm playing online Caracsonne or Catan with my GF.

Your telling me there's more then one Space Ninja shooter?
Awesome game though

 

[agentlossing]

I'm of two minds about Starfield. I want to be genuinely excited for it, but I keep waiting for Bethesda to finally overcome their jankiness: the stiff NPC facial animations and movements, the archaic graphics engine, the formulaic quests. Everything that I've enjoyed about Bethesda in the past (Morrowind, Skyrim, Fallout 3 and 4) are simultaneously the things I suspect I might have grown tired of. Hopefully not. I'm experiencing a bit of that with the press for Tears of the Kingdom, too... I thought Breath of the Wild was one of the greatest games I've ever experienced, bar none. But, even though everyone is saying that the mechanics in TotK are hugely upgraded over BotW, I watch videos and it looks like the same experience that I played for a long time and got my fill of. Maybe I'm just temporarily satiated with those kinds of experiences and I'll come to them a year or two down the road and love them. We'll see. I will certainly give Starfield a proper chance, thanks in no small part to Game Pass.

Halo Infinite is a very enjoyable game. I wish there were campaign expansions, at least announced. I do enjoy Halo multiplayer as I have since the first Halo, so I'll fire that up sometimes, and I do get the fairly generous battle passes when they update. Another Xbox staple I enjoy is Sea of Thieves, a pretty unbeatable game to play with friends. It never gets old that the minute to minute gameplay is so unique: raising anchors, adjusting sails, steering the ship, fishing, cooking, examining treasure maps... pretty magical.

I just got Diablo 4, which my wife enjoys playing with me couch co-op. Haven't had a lot of time with it yet, but it's graphically beautiful and strikes a very dark tone.

Other than that, No Man's Sky is a constant return for me, a very chill experience which is not demanding at all, and despite the repetition there's always something interesting to find.

I've been very casually thinking about an Asus ROG Ally, perhaps the slightly less powerful model once it comes out towards the fall, if the reviews for that model aren't too much different than the more expensive debut model. I could trade in my Switch OLED and bid farewell to Nintendo franchises (unless I look into emulators, which I gather are legally ambiguous) to partially fund it. The Windows functionality, even on that small screen, interests me a lot, I could install some photo programs and browse/lightly edit photos or even browse the web in a somewhat more comfortable format than a phone. Plus the integration of Game Pass and Steam directly via their PC apps is very intriguing.

 

[JensM]

GTA VI and Red Dead Redemption III, by some sort of notion those series are the only ones I play.

 

[betamax]

Though I've never been a gamer as such, I have played Mass Effects 1 and 2 right through to the end. The only games I've done that with as I was quiet taken by it, though from memory I was a couple of levels away from completing half life. I do have ME 3, but couldn't quiet get back into it.

Now I'm trying my luck at MSFS, and I have to say, it is interesting. The Nasca Lines flyover brought back memories (though I did have to load the googlemaps mod to actually see them (as bing maps wasn't quiet there yet). Though some would say MSFS is more of a simulator than a game I guess, I'm not doing too badly.

 

[L0n3Gr3yW0lf]

I got a notification yesterday about a discount on Wolfenstein: The Old Blood on Steam and after getting home from work I checked it out because I am a HUGE fan of Wolfenstein games (from the 1990s classic to the modern ones) and they had a big discount on ALL of the new ones@

So I jumped the gun and bought them, I had 3.4 £ Steam Wallet credit so the cost was even cheaper than that. I can't wait to replay some of them.

 

[agentlossing]

I've been having a hard time not dreaming about the Steam Deck, especially given this sale, which includes hardware. My Switch has felt boring for a while now since Nintendo has it so walled-off from doing anything at all but play Nintendo games. It's a missed opportunity.

I looked hard at the Asus ROG Ally, but it's a steep asking price for something with so many bugs, both hardware and software. The Deck by comparison sounds like a mature product, even though the tech inside isn't as powerful. And the Linux desktop abilities, while limited, sound fun to tinker with on the Deck.

 

[agentlossing]

Though I've never been a gamer as such, I have played Mass Effects 1 and 2 right through to the end. The only games I've done that with as I was quiet taken by it, though from memory I was a couple of levels away from completing half life. I do have ME 3, but couldn't quiet get back into it.

Now I'm trying my luck at MSFS, and I have to say, it is interesting. The Nasca Lines flyover brought back memories (though I did have to load the googlemaps mod to actually see them (as bing maps wasn't quiet there yet). Though some would say MSFS is more of a simulator than a game I guess, I'm not doing too badly.

I fell like the upcoming Starfield is going to hit on some of those Mass Effect vibes, though ME's fully voiced encyclopedia of lore is something that we'll probably never get in another game.

 

[L0n3Gr3yW0lf]

I've been having a hard time not dreaming about the Steam Deck, especially given this sale, which includes hardware. My Switch has felt boring for a while now since Nintendo has it so walled-off from doing anything at all but play Nintendo games. It's a missed opportunity.

I looked hard at the Asus ROG Ally, but it's a steep asking price for something with so many bugs, both hardware and software. The Deck by comparison sounds like a mature product, even though the tech inside isn't as powerful. And the Linux desktop abilities, while limited, sound fun to tinker with on the Deck.

Understandable, Nintendo games tend to be so expensive and if you want to keep playing games longer then it's product cycle you have to buy the cartridges because Nintendo will kill the online store. That makes rare physical games even more expensive.

The Steam Deck is a huge bang for the buck for its performance and compatibility compared to all the other Windows based handheld machines. I too am tempted to get one to replace my main gaming device (workstation laptop), the only thing keeping me back is it can play well on Medium to High quality presets right now but that will get lower and lower as desktop gaming graphics evolve faster then on consoles.

Personally I am boycotting Asus and all of its producta for very shady and corporate greed shenanigans. I won't support Asus or nVidia.

I fell like the upcoming Starfield is going to hit on some of those Mass Effect vibes, though ME's fully voiced encyclopedia of lore is something that we'll probably never get in another game.

It's one aspect I am so excited about Starfield... After watching The Expanse TV Show now I want even more Sci Fy lore and exploration.

EA is working on Mass Effect 4 though we haven't had a peep since the official sneak peak some time ago. It's probably a few years more to go until it's actually playable.

 

[agentlossing]

I had some real issues with Mass Effect, its pulpy and juvenile romance themes and over-the-top oversexualized characters were annoying. But there were certainly some high highs to go along with those low lows.

 

[agentlossing]

I listed my Nintendo Switch OLED on eBay and it sold in less than half an hour. I asked a reasonable price for used condition, netting about $200, I was surprised at how fast it sold.

I went ahead and ordered the base model Steam Deck, with the summer sale discount. Cheap enough to dip my toes in and see how I feel about the hardware. I'll update the thread with my findings, whenever Valve gets it to me.

 

[rayvonn]

I listed my Nintendo Switch OLED on eBay and it sold in less than half an hour. I asked a reasonable price for used condition, netting about $200, I was surprised at how fast it sold.

I went ahead and ordered the base model Steam Deck, with the summer sale discount. Cheap enough to dip my toes in and see how I feel about the hardware. I'll update the thread with my findings, whenever Valve gets it to me.

I remember my kids (when they were in shorts) virtually demanding a Switch come birthday/ Christmas.

 

[L0n3Gr3yW0lf]

I remember my kids (when they were in shorts) virtually demanding a Switch come birthday/ Christmas.

It's the reason I got a Switch in the first place, to play with my girlfriend and her kids. Nintendo has the most couch Co-Op and family-friendly games, some of them can be easily played by the kids without needing supervision or attention. And it's going to ... probably ... be why I will keep owning a Switch even when it gets old and outdated, it could still be played with kids 5, 10, or 20 years from now on (if it survives of course).

PC and Steam have plenty of similar or even the same games available but it's not always as easy or streamline to be used without supervision.

I listed my Nintendo Switch OLED on eBay and it sold in less than half an hour. I asked a reasonable price for used condition, netting about $200, I was surprised at how fast it sold.

I went ahead and ordered the base model Steam Deck, with the summer sale discount. Cheap enough to dip my toes in and see how I feel about the hardware. I'll update the thread with my findings, whenever Valve gets it to me.

Please do keep up posted on how your experience with the Steam Deck goes, I am curious of it's performance and handling since I prefer story-driven games so I don't mind playing at 30 FPS.

 

[L0n3Gr3yW0lf]

Just played the intro part of Saints Row 4: Re-Elected on the Switch and I haven't laughed so hard and had so much fun in a long time. It was well worth the 15 £ price and I can't wait to play more of it.

 

[Mr_Flibble]

A couple of Co-op buddies and I have been playing a lot of The Division 2 on Playstation 5 over the last months.

And I've recently completed the play-through of Boltgun. I'm replaying it a bit now and then to discover all the secrets and finding the secret maps.

Not really looking at anything new to play just yet. Though there were a couple of games on PS+ this month that I might bother with.

 

[agentlossing]

Please do keep up posted on how your experience with the Steam Deck goes, I am curious of it's performance and handling since I prefer story-driven games so I don't mind playing at 30 FPS.

Having had it for about a week, I can say I'm quite happy with it. Now, it isn't a completely stress-free experience like a Nintendo Switch is, but that's PC gaming for you. This device doesn't let you forget that it's a PC. Many games which are "deck verified" in Steam will download and run without any problems at all, but that doesn't mean you won't want to go into settings and tweak them. A few deck verified games, such as No man's Sky which I compulsively play, really don't run that well at all. The problem in this case is a lot of pop-in, which plagues this game all around, so it's not necessarily a knock on the Deck. It's just a device where you can install nearly anything, so you have to be prepared for trouble in case it occurs. Sea of Thieves, which is a pretty big game with decent graphics, on the other hand, runs flawlessly at a locked 30 FPS. Really impressed with the level of optimization in that game.

The other thing I'd point to as a fundamentally great part of the Deck is the per-game settings, which you can access with a dedicated button quick menu. You can set limits to CPU and GPU if you want, improving battery life, and set the screen refresh rate to something less than 60 so it matches your FPS. A great go-to for better battery and graphics performance is to set the FPS and refresh rate to 40, which is still smoother than 30 and takes a good amount of workload off the GPU.

I've only barely tinkered with the desktop mode, which is super intriguing and is an almost endless level of potential - but it's Linux, so it's a lot less intuitive than Windows for me. There are good tools installed, such as Dolphin, and it made it easy to install the Heroic game launcher, which allows me to install and access games from GOG.com and others. I installed Transistor this way and it runs perfectly.

There's a big difference between game mode and desktop mode, and it's somewhat slow going between them. The screen blacks out for a bit. However, games installed in desktop mode can have a link added into game mode so you can run them from there, without booting up the Linux desktop.

I'm still nerding out over the feature set available to me during my somewhat brief amount of free time. That's when I'm not being dragged back into Might & Magic Clash of Heroes, which is a casual turn-based RPG which is a perfect fit for playing while watching a show or in bed before turning in for the night. Just have to make sure I stay attentive to my spouse so the Deck doesn't acquire a negative reputation in my household...