So say we all.

The Commando (starter character) sucks, I really dug the Engineer, who's unlocked by completing 30 total stages. You get a pair of turrets that mirror the bonuses your character has, so they can get quite powerful after a few upgrades. Haven't dived back in since right around release, so I think I'll give this another run. Or two. Or three...

It's map-view top down, so no, not really side-scrolling. I've put over...*checks*...wow, 40 hours into this game already, and it's a ton of fun. The semi-demanding gameplay and delightful consomme of boiled down roguelite tropes and RPG inventory management, and getting the balance of difficulty right for your run with how and when you place cards, deciding whether to risk another round and only go home with 30/60% of your loot, or call it at the campfire with all spoils intact, it's involving without needing you to do every second of the clicking.

The first two definitely got the world-building and story right, but I must say I loved the adventuring in Gothic III, mostly due to the diversity of the environments. Emerging from the dense forest into deserts or snowy hills amped up the sense of progression and depth. It also seems the publishing world was rattled by CP2077's shaky release and resulting backlash, and PB has nothing to do with this game, so it might be the first Gothic game that actually gets released in a solidly playable state.

"The Medium cannot run with constant 60fps on the RTX3080, even at 1080p/High/RT Off settings" DSO Gaming is pretty unimpressed with the performance, this seems to be well into "wait for a few patches" territory.

GTA 6 rival 'EVERYWHERE' set to come to PS5 & Xbox Series X|S

Yep, because to be a GTAV rival, it'd have to come to three different console generations.

I remember downloading the Wacky Wheels shareware from a local BBS, and realizing that the maps that looped behind the menu to entice a purchase were stored in the game's directory, and I could play them too by renaming them to the name of the actual demo circuit that was included. In the single digits age-wise getting most of a game for free was a huge win, so thanks for the fun Apogee! Now where's my ray-traced version of Tyrian?

It's got a weird lofi pixel art style where the scale's inconsistently applied, so it looks more alpha patchwork WIP art rather than an intentional style choice. Dabbled in the Postal series here and there and this doesn't resemble the oddball small town USA setting or style whatsoever, nor the style of combat.

It seems like this is the kind of tech the UE5 demo is relying on, and given that game assets have generally been packed and streamed based on spinning platter HDDs (and in many cases, have a strong legacy from discs, with ~100ms seek times and sub-10MB/s transfer rates at best), we were due for a generational leap. Nvidia's already got their own branded version with RTX I/O, and being able to rely on NVME-level random IOPS and overall speed combined with video cards that can do more of the decompression work themselves should start to change assumptions about the level of detail and scope we can put into gaming experiences. Dwarf Fortress depth, Control visuals.

Deathloop's trailer in the PS5 State of Play showed some of the strongest personality among a bunch of generally gorgeous looking games, and I hope that carries through in a NOLF kind of way, where even the small design decisions have that bit of added flair. Glad they're taking time to get it right, but it seems like the console launches this holiday season are getting more and more barren, and it'll be a tougher sell with a minuscule library of new games to get people excited. My next PC upgrade will definitely be steered by what next-gen games are starting to require, but if there's not much out there to demand it, why bother?

If what you're after is "SUPERHOT, but more" this is exactly it. The roguelite semi-randomness and increased variety of skills and enemies means there's just more to sink your teeth into.

Haha, and that C&C pack just reminded me of downloading the ~10MB demo late at night cause it took forever on 28.8k dialup and I wasn't allowed to tie up the phone line for that long. Now it's "60GB? Eh, no big deal."

Mojang Studios, ladies and gentlemen! I hope notch is giggling in his mansion doing the backstroke through his Olympic-sized pool of money. Good to see that Microsoft wasted no time sending over engineers from the Windows 10 update team to "lend a hand".

Also, can't speak to it too directly myself, but the tide of opinion on most of the hardware / trading / deals forums I frequent is that Newegg's customer service and returns have plummeted in quality over the last few years as they've expanded their marketplace. Especially if you're looking at important and expensive PC components, you're better off buying from somewhere else.

This game is a ton of fun if you want the slightly rarer combo of third-person shooter mixed with roguelite. Keep it on the easiest setting until you unlock ANY character other than the default Commando, who's really boring and not representative of what the rest of the game offers. I love the Engineer, who gets a pair of deployable turrets that mirror the upgrades your character collects. It feels essentially complete as is, minus a few clearly signposted bits of content, and the upgrade/unlock loop feels well balanced.

I was checking through hours-played on a few potential purchases to see if Steam friends liked it, and just saw Prez's count is at 12,345.

How much side quest crap is going to be in this game?

Apparently it's going to be more focused and with less side fluff, so it doesn't dull the impact of the story moments they put so much effort in to.
https://www.vg247.com/2020/05/07/assassins-creed-valhalla-length/

Pr()ZaC wrote on Mar 7, 2020, 14:40:
So... Basically you'll be able to stream just Windows Solitaire on GeForce NOW, now.

Yeah, but...with RTX On!

I snagged an Acer ED323 Abidpx on a recent Lightning Deal, and at $180 for a 32" 144Hz how could I resist? My previous monitor was a HP Omen 32" 75Hz (both Freesync/G-Sync compatible, powered by a moderate-OC 1080) so you'd think the difference wouldn't be that massive, but I really, really like the Acer. The first day or so the curved display threw me off but after settling in the curve really does feel more natural, and gives more even color and brightness with minimal backlight bleed or haloing. It's a waste on smaller monitors, but if you've got a 32" monitor on your desk it's worth seriously considering for your next purchase.

I assume they use a similar form to "From the desk of: Bender", with a bunch of checkboxes like "Allow real people to test the UI" and "Extend QA to, like, a full week" and "Security? Security!" and this week's "We're really, really going to support PC gaming this time, promise, pinky swear" with a final one at that bottom that says "And this time I mean it"