Random Dent

When they announced Steam Machines the first time, I thought it was a great idea because it would give PC devs a sort of baseline system to aim for, and then I was surprised when they launched and they were all sorts of different system specs. I’m still convinced that’s at least partly why they failed - if you buy a console like a Playstation or XBOX, part of the appeal is that you know exactly what you’re getting and what will run on it. If it says ‘PS5’, it’ll run on your PS5.

So hopefully if they try again it’ll be something along those lines, kind of like the Steam Deck.

Yeah V and VI (even even IV I think) are still perfectly fine and playable, so I’m happy to wait pretty much indefinitely lol.

Yeah this is me with Civ VII too. Normally I’ll pick up a new Civ game on day one, but since the new one has Denuvo and it’s nearly $170 CAD for the full version, I guess I’ll just be picking it up in a Christmas sale in like 5 years or something.

I think that game is the third best Alien movie lol

I thought the new one, Romulus, did a pretty good job of keeping the retro look going. I actually didn’t like the movie itself very much, but props & costumes did a good job lol.

Especially for Star Citizen lol. Like what are they gonna show? Given their track record, at best it’ll be some half-baked new mechanic that doesn’t work properly and will eventually be tossed and replaced anyway.

The whole game right now is just a series of those duct-taped together, as far as I can tell.

It definitely is lol

Those are my two current ones as well lol

I dunno what to tell you, friend.

Should be fixed now!

#Balatro (Steam, iOS, Android, Switch, PS4/5, Xbox One/X/S)

A deck-builder card game where you make poker hands, but Jokers and other cards give you crazy power-ups. I probably didn’t explain that very well, but it’s absurdly addictive. It’s like the perfect Steam Deck game.

I think they’re falling into the same trap Bioware fell into, whereby they have a couple of critically acclaimed franchises under their belt and are universally praised and all is well, but then obviously that can’t last forever so as soon as the wheels start to wobble a bit, they start over-thinking, over-developing and over-managing their games because the next one needs to be a massive hit, but then what inevitably happens is they end up sabotaging development as they keep throwing out ideas and polishing all the rough edges off. So you actually end up with something that feels under-developed and bland because it’s all designed by committees and middle-managers, and built by underpaid devs on a crunch who just want to be done with it.

Also Microsoft bought them in the meantime, which can’t be helpful.

The A is for “Actually this game is $90 now instead of $60.”

I could, but even the base version here is $90. I’m good to just wait, honestly.

Yeah I feel like you could tie these crises into player actions pretty organically - like if there’s a war and a big enough percentage of Civs get involved, then it triggers a World War crisis, or they could tie something into the global warming mechanic from Civ VI, or have a Cold War come up from excessive espionage actions, stuff like that.

Which is a weird move IMO, 'cause normally you’re supposed to steal the homework of someone who’s doing a better job than you are.

I don’t like denuvo but for me it’s the price that’s the deal-breaker. Nearly $170CAD for the full version is absolutely bonkers, and I simply can’t justify it. So I guess I’m picking it up in a Steam sale in 2028 or something when it’s $40 with all the DLC.

My first impressions:

• I like the art style, I’ll have to see about the leaders.
• Gwendolyn Christie is a really good choice for the narrator.
• I don’t like the sound of there only being three ages, but maybe there’s more to it.
• Also not sure about switching civs mid-game, but being able to do things like a French Cleopatra might be fun.
• Are they going to restrict this to avoid potentially offensive combos, especially in multiplayer? I’m thinking of things like using real-world colonizers for leaders of places they occupied (like an English ruler in charge of India and stuff like that.) At the very least it seems like they’re inviting trouble unnecessarily.
• The prices are completely bonkers, nearly $170 CAD for the Founders Edition! This is gonna be the first Civ game in a long time that I don’t pick up on launch day.

Those and Bannerlord are the games I’ve got the most hours with on Steam so that was my basis lol. I thought about including Bannerlord cause its a bit different but less of a time sink I think. Maybe with mods though!

• Civ VI
• Factorio
• Rimworld

I might need an extra 5 years when they come to get me lol