This is absolutely not a game that everyone is going to love, but some, some are going to adore it.
Do you have fondness for any of these? Disciples I and Disciples II? Wizardry? Wizards & Warriors? Eador? Choose your own adventure? Old school difficulty? Old school danger within RPGs? Somewhat old school user interfaces? Rag-doll equipment screens? Oodles of races and classes? Complexity and depth? Slow and steady pace?
Yes? Then try this.
This looks pretty crazy and I kind of want it -
First couple of turns were clunky, but cool. It does look like it has some depth, and certainly a lot to learn, compounded by the game not really facilitating the learning.
I have fiddled with the Adventure mode only, and it’s very easy to get into, surprisingly so. The interface is true jank though: it reminds me of @Vic_Davis’ attempts to get around an awkward development engine! I wished Windowed mode would work more properly.
The pricing is nuts. I guess it’s the local Russian pricing applied globally?
Re: Grim Wanderings 2
Hehe, yeah, it is like the guy has lovingly recreated the really tough to learn UIs and game-beginnings from the classic 90s era! It really brings to mind the Star Trail games for me. They had this incredible ‘living world’ in which you had to feed, water, clothe, keep your adventurers warm, lest they get sick and die, combined with fiendish difficulty. No soft edges. This game was not your buddy! Yet, yet, if you could persist, persevere . . . there was reward.
Agreeing, you can start playing really quick and I think that is a good method to learn. Start, fail, start over, fail, start with all your accumulated wisdom and insight . . . . maybe succeed? I have already restarted once in order to build a better party, one where the races actually like each other and so support ongoing happiness. I have run into the problem of needing to find a source of timber to build buildings to generate stone, so I can have stone to build buildings that generate gold and . . . . maybe I just need more pylons. This bit gives me a real Thea 1 / Thea 2 vibe, but the resource management and economy does seem simpler.
I’d like to hear more about Grim Wanderings II. I had thought to watch some video of it while treadmilling later, but there’s not much online, at least in English.
I definitely do not want that… Nightmare juice!
geggis
5480
Hahaha, yes! I saw that on Twitter a while back and meant to mention it here. Honestly, the first 20 seconds of that trailer are amazing and all I really needed. The chase, the monster ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ reveal, the escape train and rear mounted MG, then the open island and the map zoom out. Boom.
Realms of Arkania. Star Trail was the second of the three games.
Oh jeez, nudge me toward making my first ever gaming video why don’t you? :-P
I cannot truly rave about it yet, I need more time in-game to see if the early promise unfolds into long-term enjoyment, but if it does pan out, I would be really keen to help this game reach folks that would appreciate it.
Early days . . . it is like a mashup of the exploration aspects of Eador, a CRPG with party turn-based hex-based tactical battles, and a bit of the resource management, crafting and building of the Thea games. That is a pretty compelling combination, if the downsides can be tolerated.
Gotcha! I think I played the first two out of three of those, and wisely stayed away from the somewhat recent remake of one of them. They remain framed within a nostalgic halo of wonder for me :-)
Brooski
5483
Yes, please.
I bounced off this pretty hard (mostly the combat) but I’d be interested in seeing/hearing more to revive my interest.
morlac
5485
This looks awesome and weird, I’m in.
Unpacking is out on Game Pass and other PC stores and on Switch today.
I LOVED the demo of this that was available a couple months back. It made it one of my most anticipated games. It’s a simple concept, completely banal. You’re taking things out of boxes and putting them away on shelves and in drawers in a series of isometric rooms. GOD it’s satisfying. There are occasional little wrinkles that add some challenge–not everything fits where you might first want it to–but unless it changes in the later game, I don’t think it’s about challenge. And I gather there’s a story that unfolds as you… er… fold your clothes.
It looks very cute, and accommodating to that weird urge some (many?) of us have for pigeonholing and aligning things.
Is six rooms long enough though? The first looks very short. What is the playthrough time? I’m assuming it doesn’t really have any re-playability. I guess it’s fairly cheap though, for something short and sweet.
SweetJP
5488
Interesting. I’m making note of this one. I was initially super turned off to the game (unfairly), because I adore the devs previous game, Assault Android Cactus, and was disappointed to see something so different in their follow-up.
According to (negative) Steam reviews, it’s about 4 hours to play. The retail price is $20.
This looks intriguing and pushes a lot of my buttons. Probably gonna pick it up.
Shadows of Forbidden Gods is now out in Early Access. The developer’s previous game, Shadows Behind the Throne had some interesting ideas and showed promise, but this seems to be a bit more polished and refined. Even though I keep telling myself “no more EA” I still wanted to scratch the That Which Sleeps itch. Plus, there’s a demo, although I’m not sure how far behind the current build it is.
Lost King of Avallon is still early access. As near as I can tell, it’s a scenario-based game that only has 30 of 200 planned scenarios.
-Tom
