Hey I'm back! There were plans to post info about an upcoming game of mine this year, but that all had to change. Its been a long year on my end. Had to move twice, once planned, another due to flooding. Had a few other roadblocks as well that I won't share here. (I'm in good health, nothing of that sort.) However, things have calmed down again.
This won't be a long post, just an update that my shenanigans are continuing. I'd like to note that I'll probably be moving this blog over to wordpress in the next few months. I'll have a post here if/when I do.
The Spinach Mod
This was mentioned in the previous post, but was never released. Spinach never gave me the okay to release and has lately been updating the mod again, so it's going to be a much more substantial mod. Not much else to say about it at this time, but expect nearly every map (maybe all?) to be changed.
The Future Game?
I'll be putting something together to show more about this game in Q1 or Q2 of 2022. It was not initially planned to be such a large game, but as a good friend once said to me, I'm obsessed.
Game of the Year, but really just some games to mention
I can't go without mentioning this one. Been awaiting its release ever since its announcement years back. Its combat isn't anything special, but if you're playing Psychonauts, it's not for that. The narrative and characters are top-notch, going into deeper issues with nuance and respect. Every chapter was less about Raz and more on the character whose mind he dives into. (Which could be said about the first game, it just felt more pronounced in this.) I noticed most of the cast were older, which was welcome considering games almost never have that. It's absolutely worth a playthrough.
Yeah this game didn't release this year, but I don't care! I've found this to be the best game of "Grab your friends and go have fun." all year. Easy to explain too. You play one of four dwarves working for the mining company, Deep Rock Galactic, who send you to the planet Hoxxes to mine resources for them. The core loop is selecting a mission from the hub, diving into the planet with a massive drill, gather the resources, and leave.
When diving into Hoxxes, the world is all randomly generated, everything is destructible, and many many alien bugs and creatures are trying to eat you while you gather whatever DRG is sending you to get. Each of the dwarves have their own playstyle and guns. But the real fun is in their support tools, such as the gunner's zipline that anyone can use once fired. The miner can... well he can dig. The engineer has a platform gun that yes, creates platforms on any most surfaces. (Think Earthshift, but fired from a gun. (Said platforms can also break falls.))
The fun comes from how almost no two dives are ever the same. Fun adventures with friends seems to be the mission statement of the game and every design choice and update back that up. As of this post, there are 8 different mission types that greatly vary in how they're approached. Each one can greatly change how the caverns are generated. There's your standard resource gathering that the game uses to introduce itself. An escort mission that's actually fun and not shit. (No really.) My personal favorite called On-site refining, which has you creating pipelines to pump a mineral out of the ground. The terrain and location of the resources has a huge impact on how the team will create the pipes. For example, the distance and elevation differences between the refinery and resources. The pipes need stable ground when placing them, which luckily the game helps facilitate with the tool used in this process so you know exactly why a pipe can't be placed. Even better though, is that these pipes can be used to grind on!
Get a friend and play this.
