Community MetaSteam | August 2021 - Openness Is Its Superpower

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EdwardTivrusky

Good Morning, Weather Hackers!
Dec 8, 2018
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I was going to say Steam's compression is pretty good but they can't do anything about a developers filesystem and archive tech choices.
they couldn't do anything about CoH ( or was it CoH2?) and patching that was MADNESS!
 
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beep boop

MetaMember
Dec 6, 2018
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I thought I was ok at Tetris for someone who isn't a T-spin god, but I'm getting pretty average rankings everywhere. Casual this is not! Need to step up my game.

But no matter how much practice I put in, I don't see myself playing this against other players online. That scene is too damn savage.
 
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Avern

MetaMember
May 14, 2020
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What are my options if I want to shoot people in the face (or in the groin, I'm not picky) in a retro fashion ? There are more and more of those games.
Bonus points if the game is more Doom than Quake, but again, I take what I can. Or Half-Life. Or Soldier of Fortune. God, I miss traditional solo FPS :confounded-face:
I started trying to write some recommendations, and wound up going a bit overboard. I have clearly spent too much time on this subgenre. Short answer: Get Dusk, Amid Evil, HROT, and play some custom Doom 2 wads as well.

Recommended
  • Dusk - The gold standard. Pretty classic in its design, but with level design that is better and more inventive than most of its inspirations. My only real gripe is that its arsenal is a bit dry.
  • Amid Evil - Superb. It has one of the best arsenals I've seen in the genre, with lots of nuance for most of the weapons. Level and secret design isn't the best, so it ends up being carried by the strength of its combat alone.
  • HROT (EA) - It's amazing. Has a specific and unique tone (ultra-brown Eastern bloc misery, but a bit tongue-in-cheek). It's a bit mechanically basic, but its vibe carries it.

Recommended with caveats
  • Project Warlock - Seems good. Very flat, corridor-heavy levels give it a style somewhere between Wolfenstein and Doom. I kept getting microstutters on this one though, and they were bad enough that I gave up on it, so watch out for that.
  • Prodeus (EA) - This one has a lot going for it. It's gorgeous, feels good, and has a nice arsenal. Feels very Doom-like as well. I felt let down by the level design and enemies though. I thought both were really bland. I appear to be the only one though, judging by Steam reviews, so you may enjoy more than I did.

Recommended, but not in the Doom/Quake style
  • Ultrakill (EA) - Retro in its visuals, but mechanically, it's Devil May Cry But Shooter. It's great if that's what you're looking for. It has a mechanic where you flip a coin, then shoot the coin to ricochet the shot into an enemy, and it's the sickest.
  • Cruelty Squad - Honestly, I don't know if this can be considered retro, but I'm including it anyways because it's the best. It's a tactical shooter that's built for replaying levels, aiming to get faster times, get new weapons, or unlock secrets. It's deliberately hideous, but plays great.
  • This Strange Realm of Mine - Sometimes it's a Doomy shooter. Sometimes it's a poetry game. Sometimes it's a stealth game about social anxiety. It's weird. Probably not what you're looking for, but it's cool.

I haven't played enough of these to really comment
  • Hedon - Seems to hew more towards adventure/RPG stuff than a shootbang game.
  • Dread X Collection: The Hunt - Anthology title with 7 small, horror-themed shooters.

Not so recommended
  • Dread Templar (EA) - Promising in some aspects, but feels derivative and has lots of little problems. If this leans into its more creative aspects for the later episodes, it could be great.
  • Wrath: Aeon of Ruin (EA) - Great, but has very little content and has been extremely slow to update. Don't be a sucker like me, wait until this leaves EA.
  • Graven (EA) - Veers closer to RPG territory than just a standard shooter. It's extremely good, but it's another early access with very little content in its current state. Best wait until further in dev.
  • Nightmare Reaper (EA) - Retro shooter with a sprinkling of roguelike elements. The guns are crazy destructive in a satisfying way, but it doesn't have much else going for it. The proc-gen levels just aren't anywhere near as interesting as bespoke ones.
  • Viscerafest (EA) - Fun protagonist and story premise, but the game is hard in a way that feels miserable. Low ammo counts push you to use a strong melee attack, but enemies fire fast projectiles with little warning, that makes melee combat feel like a diceroll. Didn't enjoy this one.
  • Ion Maiden - Horribly imbalanced weapons kind of kill this one. Devs are shitheads on top of that.
  • Strafe - Another roguelike take on retro shooters, but with way more emphasis on the roguelike than Nightmare Reaper. I didn't play much, and it didn't seem great.
 

NarohDethan

There was a fish in the percolator!
Apr 6, 2019
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I thought I was ok at Tetris for someone who isn't a T-spin god, but I'm getting pretty average rankings everywhere. Casual this is not! Need to step up my game.

But no matter how much practice I put in, I don't see myself playing this against other players online. That scene is too damn savage.
I've never played it competitively. Remember to login during Saturdays to Effect Mode, the ultimate coop experience as your score contributes to the global target and everyone gets a nice avatar. Plus there are some achievements that are really easy to get that way.
 

EdwardTivrusky

Good Morning, Weather Hackers!
Dec 8, 2018
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Yes, Tetris Effect is not a kiddie version of Tetris. It's a super pretty and beautifully presented Tetris but it ramps up and the later levels are tough for a casual like me. What redeems it for me though are the Weekend and Global Events where just playing the game adds to the Global progress and gets you some fun avatars and things to use.
It's also great in PSVR so i reckon crispy clear PCVR will be mindblowing. You can also turn off a lot of the effects and doohickeys if you find them distracting.

No idea what EOS integration is like though. that's kind of a turn-off for me at the moment.
 

Li Kao

It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.
Jan 28, 2019
7,871
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In my obsession of the day I came across E1M1, a kickstarted digital magazine about shooters.
Now sadly, if the free sample is any indication, I find they have quite the cheek to ask money for this. It’s pretty clear that no one in the team has any notion of DTP, this is hideous, unreadable without zooming, and the content is laughable with one paragraph long ’reviews’ of super random shit from eons ago (but it’s a sampler so maybe the full content is better).

I for one am super happy. Being this bad, it’s just a matter of time before they offer to pay people to read this.
 
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Joe Spangle

Playing....
Apr 17, 2019
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After my controller issues with Battlefield 4 i was still in the mood for some shooty bang bang and there is a thread on Era about COD Infinite warfare and so i fired that up instead and yeah, its an amazingly good campaign. Slick and exciting and visually impressive. Really good COD.

Also, was that Lewis Hamilton! on my starship?
 
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Hektor

Autobahnraser
Nov 1, 2018
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I'm kinda weird with costumes, I REALLY LIKE THEM in games that offer them, and I generally purchase them all, but I barely ever use them because I prefer the "normal" costumes for story/cutscenes/whatever
I usually use alt outfits only if they look appropiate for cutscenes as well, except on replays when i just put on whatever is cool/funny/horny

Been playing RE6, it's been like:

ADAAAAA!


SIMMONS!
I unironically love Resident Evil 6.
 

NarohDethan

There was a fish in the percolator!
Apr 6, 2019
9,147
25,573
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I read the 'Century' trilogy by Ken Follet. At the time I thought the first book was quite good, the second was ok, and the third one went full cringe. I dunno if they would hold up a re-read. I hadn't formed my political beliefs yet.
 
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manchego obfuscator

MetaMember
Jan 23, 2020
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reviews seem to be mostly positive, but I'm not surprised that some outlets didn't care much for it. Time loop games are never easy to design, but I feel like maybe there's less room for error in some ways when you set one in such a confined space. biggest concern I have from some reviews is some overly obtuse puzzle design that requires executing exactly the right sequence of actions at exactly the right times in order to advance the plot

anyway, good thing it's on Game Pass
 
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