ScuorgeBringer (also on xbox gamepass) will release soon, and it will be a mostly revamped game:
I started playing Atomicrops today, I clocked in 3.5 hours (around 8 tries?). Alas I’m no good in this kind of games, only in my last run I reached the third boss, a tractor. From what I can see in the wiki, it seems there are some permanent upgrades although funnily enough I still couldn’t unlock anything because first I need to find whatever npc in the game itself (ant builder?).
I’ve just hit 36 hours with Atomicrops and only yesterday did I discover one of the other persistent upgrade characters so now I have two at the hub. I think I should have discovered them earlier but… well, there’s a lot of different things to be juggling and balancing in Atomicrops!
There’s day time and exploration (as well as factoring in tunnels to get back quickly), growth time, sowing, expanding your plot, weeding, watering, fertilising, harvesting, tractors, pigeons, defending and of course the overarching days, seasons and storing cashews and roses for upgrades so you’re ready for the bosses. It’s Nuclear Throne with breakneck high pressure resource management. There’s a lot more to this game than meets the eye.
At 36 hours and counting, I think it’s fair to say I’m loving it, but it takes a while to get into the very particular rhythm of the game. Once you start getting a feel for the different items and potential synergies the binary upgrade options (this farm animal or that one, this item or that, this weapon or that one) start to feel a lot more meaningful. One of my best runs was with weed wacker (cut weeds faster) coupled with vinaigrette (weeds can be harvested) so I was able to dash around energised, weeding and racking up cashews, seeds and fertiliser. I play with a controller, by the way.
The visuals are busy and there’s the odd time when I’m not sure what hit me but for the most part they strike a good balance between lively and discernible, somehow. It’s pretty insane.
I don’t think you’ll need to look at the wiki because I don’t feel like the game has many hidden tricks. There is perhaps one very basic but key thing that they may have added to the tutorial since I played it: sowing four of the same seed (or tree) in a square and using enough fertiliser will combine them into a mega crop.
Today I managed to beat year 3 and, just now, year 4, so I’m very happy with my progress!
A few things from the update: the new weapons and items are excellent and add a lot more variety. I’m really looking forward to trying out the new character I just unlocked too. My favourite major change is switching heart beets to heart beet seeds. Before, killing enemies or looting would randomly drop hearts that instantly healed you. This was fine but it was fairly random and meant risking your life to heal up. The new system means you can store your heart beet seeds and plant them when you need to heal (and with the tip above there’s a risk/reward element at play here too).
Oh and @TurinTur you did very well to get to the tractor in 3.5 hours!
Aaaand I’m out. ;)
Yeah, the last thing you should be expecting is Stardew with some action!
I’m not very clear in what the basic mechanics are, to be honest. Help me @geggis
Water makes crops grow faster? Like, optionally? Or does crops NEED x water to reach maturity?
Fertilizer makes plant be more valuable?
How the energized mechanic work? It isn’t clear at all.
I’m glad you like it. But I prefer my games with a more sedate pace. Any game that describes itself as “frenetic” or uses words like “pressure”, “tension”, or “speed” means I’m out. It’s not them, it’s me. ;)
The different areas/biomes to the north, east, south and west give you different kinds of seeds/crops. Desert seeds don’t require much water but take longer to grow (I don’t think prickly pears need any water). Plains seeds need lots of water but grow quickly. I’m a bit fuzzy on the jungle and tundra areas because by that point I’ve usually amassed so many seeds I’m not sure where they came from–I need to look into that at the market. Crops that require water though won’t grow until they’re watered, so it’s super important.
Fertiliser improves the crop making it more valuable (you’ll know when you’ve applied enough fertiliser because it stops you using any more). The added value isn’t separated out at market unfortunately, it’s just a lump sum for each crop, but you can see the difference with the crop pictures because they look bigger and/or happier.
As you weed, sow or till you build up an energy meter (at the bottom of the screen). When it fills up you become energised for a brief period and can weed, sow and till a lot faster. You can maintain this state by continuing to weed, sow and till before the energised gauge runs down. Several items upgrade your energised state eg. to make it last longer or double your damage and speed. Some items will charge your meter on tractor use or by killing enemies. It can be very powerful and useful.
One other tip: I would recommend using pickaxes before night time or weeding and sowing seeds because it’s easy to break the earth/crust in the wrong place when you’re trying to defend, dodge and attack! Pickaxes and expanding your plot is very important to manage your space, crops and defences.
Oh I get it! Atomicrops looks all cute and cuddly on the surface but it’s as hard as atomic bomb-baked earth! :-) It does ramp up but even the first year is a challenge.
7 hours in:
It was a run where I accumulated 5 turrets with 2 perks for turrets: the plants grow faster near them and the laser pointer thing that buffs them. Another perk I got in the first day, something that would allow 4 vegetables to join into 1 without the fertilizer, was also a boon.
Oh wow, 5 turrets alone is super useful, but coupled with the faster growth aura and increased range sounds pretty crazy! Congrats on beating year 1!
We’re in the golden age of action roguelites!
This one released on the 24th. You play a marketing intern that must wield office equipment and fight enemies in dungeons that are the remains of failed tech startups. Really cute art style.
There’s also a demo available too!
shoulda included a Steam store URL of their game into their tweet.
I hadn’t heard of it until that tweet meme and I ended up retweeting it and downloading the demo so I would say that it did its job regardless! It appears that I wasn’t the only one either looking at the replies.
Noita 1.0 version coming soon, October 15th
1.0 will be Noita’s biggest update yet, featuring tons of new stuff, including new enemies, perks, music, and over 20 spells, as well as a wide range of general game improvements and bug fixes, along with other surprises, and perhaps a new game mode. In addition, the introduction of Twitch integration will allow streamers to let their viewers vote on various in-game events for even more creative surprises!
Look usgamer guy, I opened this thread on June 21, don’t come now doing like you are the one treading new ground!
Cute idea and style. But it irks me that I searched for real information of the game, how is the progression, the options, the difficulty, how long, etc… and yeah, no. Their marketing is more about being so millennial, and much less about the game features.
Why don’t you just try the demo? I’d much rather play a game to understand and get a feel for the systems and mechanics myself than have someone explain them, probably badly. I’ve not played it myself yet but the concept and visuals were enough to pique my curiosity.
Edit: And Hades’ store page is about as descriptive as Going Under’s, for what it’s worth.