Back from Holiday – Hailing Frequencies Open for 7/6/17
Random Picture Just Because.
Happy Thursday, as I type this on a Wednesday! Why? Because this entry is gonna be god damned huge and take me a while to write, so strap the hell in and get ready, because I have a LOT to talk about, plus a ton of freaking news (like, over thirty pieces, seriously). First off, let’s talk about this week’s game of the week, Strike Squadron: Caracará. This is a “2D space sim” that supposedly harkens back to Wing Commander-style games. Well, after two videos, I found it so super frustrating I couldn’t go on any further. Seriously, I was just so mad. Watch the vids if you like, but don’t get too excited.
Overall though, it was a great, great, fantastic weekend for gaming. Friday and Saturday I barely got any gaming in aside from a bit of LOGistICAL. Sunday, beyond making the videos above, I returned to Middle Earth in Lord of the Rings Online, and had a lovely time. It’s been maybe a month or so since I played last (I do that with MMOs, play hard for a while then break off to avoid full burnout…or maybe it is a slight burnout…), but I’d forgotten just how gorgeous its rendering of Middle Earth is. Check this out:
I mean, that’s a ten year old game y’all, and it’s just stunning. Much of the time, I’ll just sit back and take screenshots as I venture forth around adventuring on the game’s billion or so quests. It really is such a wonderful MMO. Here’s my favorite screenshot, from around The Shire:
So pretty. Anyway, I got a good amount of time playing this on Sunday, but it was Monday where the really serious gaming session happened. I finally ended up getting almost all of the games I’d curated for myself in the just-ended Steam sale, which are as follows (with my thoughts):
King Arthur’s Gold – This game I purchased because it was the same developer as an older multiplayer game I used to love called Soldat, and it’s a ton of fun. You can be a knight, archer or builder, and take over (or destroy) the map in fighting the other team. Fun!
Trench Run – This is also from the Soldat developer, and is a bit more focused than KAG above. The goal here is to get your team to the other side of the map before the opposing team does the same. The premise is great, but the gameplay itself is a bit odd. Why I need to point, then click, then fire, rather than just shoot where my cursor is, is BAFFLING. Not sure I’m gonna keep playing this one.
Butcher – I LOVE THIS GAME. The final game here from the Soldat developers is violent, fast-paced, fluid and amazing. Seriously, I am terrible at it (still on only the second level after more than an hour), but wow, loving it. Snagged the soundtrack too.
Star Chronicles: Delta Quadrant – I owned the DRM-free version of this and really liked it, so I wanted to get this one too. Great game.
World’s Fastest Pizza – So imagine Hotline Miami, but instead of killing dudes, you’re trying to deliver pizza while other dudes try to kill YOU. It’s odd and fast and hilarious and I really, really like it.
UNLOVED – This one is likely more fun in multiplayer based on my time with it. It’s fun, but it’s clearly meant for multiple people. Gonna keep it though.
Tier 1 – This one shows some promise, very navy-in-space type of thing, but it’s still very early so there’s not much content yet. Will definitely revisit for a future video.
Siralim 2 – I love this game. Love it. The first Siralim was a lot of fun, and this one is even better. Varied domains, lots of creatures to capture and level up, fun streamlined gameplay and so on. Definitely going to be spending lots of time with this.
Dual Core with Soundtrack – So far this is a fun, colorful and well-written twin-stick shooter with really cute robots.
Shattered Throne – VERY Advanced Warsey, in a good way. Only played a couple of scenarios, but plan to play more.
Monsters’ Den: Book of Dread – Not sure about this one. I love roguelikes but the interface here is kind of baffling.
LOGistICAL – Egypt – I will buy every DLC for this game, bar none. Still working on Australia, but I finished my first region (Southern Sydney in New South Wales), and plan to try the Hawaii DLC next.
I played all but two of those games on Monday, and it was glorious. I’d not spent 6-8 hours straight just gaming in a long, long time, and since there was so much variety, I never got bored once. It really was the break I needed. :) Tuesday was mostly “work”, as we did laundry and I got some wedding prep stuff in, but I also got to play some LOGistICAL, so it wasn’t all bad. ;) Overall it’s been some fun gaming times, and with the Humble Monthly about to drop, I’m excited to see what’s in that. Yay gaming! Yesterday I got in both LOGistICAL’s Hawaii DLC and some original No One Lives Forever action! Been ages since I played NOLF, but it still kicks ass.
Tonight we’ll be playing Victor Vran on the stream, as chosen by the wheel last week. I’ve not played it in a while, but I do have a lot of hours in it…for me at least. Almost seventeen! Seriously, that’s a lot for me. I’ve never played it in multiplayer, though, so it should be a fun time. :)
Alright, news time, there’s a ton of it, so hold tight!
Interstellar Space: Genesis (formerly Project Space Sector) will be opening up pre-orders next week on July 12th.
The Spatials: Galactology got a hefty dev update covering fire and other things.
Interstellar Rift got a dev update about its new custom armor abilities, and the patch notes to go with it.
The Sentient got a patch which fixes crew inactivity, among other things.
Stellaris is getting improvements to hive mind functionality and more, according to this dev diary.
Evochron Legacy got a massive patch that fiddles with a TON of stuff. Looks like they made enough changes to contracts that I need to revisit it.
Disputed Space got a new Descent-like keyboard layout and other fixes in its latest patch. I love how active this dev is, as evidenced by the severalpatchesproceeding this latest one, even.
Vendetta Online got updated ship graphics and much more in its latest patch.
Interplanetary got a teensy patch, and it’s good to see it getting updates once again.
The latest Hard Light Productions newsletter includes a lot of dev updates to current campaigns, which is a really nice addition.
Defect’s developers have posted a Kickstarter postmortem which is a great read.
Sol Trader got a pretty big new build that added a lot of things, followed by a small patch which fixed a teensy bit of things.
Angels Fall First got another hotfix for its latest version which includes map revisions and more!
Infinity: Battlescape has a new dev update showing off more base stuff. I wanna plaaaaay it.
Finally, Heathen Engineering’s Terran got a big patch which starts its story arc, adds new ships and more.
But we’re not done, as there are some sales! First, IndieGala has the aforementioned Halcyon 6 on sale, and the Humble Store is having a DRM-free sale which includes Starbound and Steamworld Heist, for example.
