Community MetaSteam | July 2020 - Blood on the Horizon

[toxicitizen]

The more I play Death Stranding, the less I understand the mixed reception on consoles. It's so fucking good! It's No Man's Sky all over again. The trailers showed exactly what the game was but idiots somehow deluded themselves into thinking there had to be more to it that they were keeping secret for no reason whatsoever lol.

Also, I've been sleeping on using photo mode in games. It's pretty fun!

Pictured above: me, seconds before I lost my footing and ate about half a mountain's worth of shit. BB is dead now.

 

[Cordelia]

That whale has low textures particle effect that ruin screenshot

 

[fantomena]

Anyone getting Grounded tommorrow?

 

[bobnowhere]

Hehe, I'm on that list. That's where all my money goes!



Follow my curator for more great game recommendations!

Waking in a cave, the nameless protagonist climbs a ladder emerging into a world rife with danger. Forever moving rightwards, she will cross dangerous forests infested with ghoul like beings, snow capped mountains, crumbling cities and more.

A 2D side-scrolling puzzle-platformer in the same vein as Limbo, Inside, Planet Alpha and others the female protagonist awakens and while not instructed with a specific quest, she moves out to explore this unfamiliar world. Not as puzzle heavy as Limbo, there are still quite a few mostly involving avoiding the various enemies and obstacles in the game that will kill you in one shot. Stealth and avoiding the gaze of enemies, ducking between cover, also plays a large role in some levels.

The game stuns when it comes to aesthetic and sound. Each level has a completely unique look and design from a dark brown foreboding forest to a burned zone lit almost exclusively by a constant barrage of fire arrows. There are even more unique levels later on that the player should discover on their own. The soundtrack is equally outstanding and an absolute highlight, the OST should probably be sold separately.

Deaths can be cheap at times, and timing quite tight, the only way to avoid it at times is prior knowledge. There are achievements for completing levels without dying but you are very unlikely to get those first time through, knowledge is power in this case.

The game's true goal is always puzzling leaving you at times wanting for more information but also at times just enjoying the view speculating what it’s all about. Stela is an outstanding example of the genre but might leave you with more questions than when you started.

 

[Hektor]

Anyone getting Grounded tommorrow?

No, i don't live with my parents anymore

 

[Kyougar]

I feel like it's true to some extent, but mostly for niche stuff like some JRPGs. A lot of fault lies with publishers for that, though. You can't seriously expect people to pay $60 for a game that's been out in Japan for 3-5 years, on consoles in the West for 1-2, is filled with overpriced DLCs and already looked dated as far as visuals go back when it launched in Japan. With that price tag it's competing with brand new AAA releases. Furthermore, late PC ports of those games rarely pay any attention to other games' release schedule and often launch next to hit titles that are bound to overshadow them. Console launches are usually much smarter about that. PC releases of those games really give off a huge "afterthought" vibes, at least as far as business goes, since port quality is usually at least decent.

Koei Tecmo is that you?
Call me ungrateful, but most Koei Tecmo games are not worth 60 bucks.
Like, I would LOVE to get into Romance of the three Kingdoms, but not for 60 bucks, and they never have good impulse-buy sales (except for the Atelier series) ROTK 13 is STILL 60 bucks while the 14th entry was already released half a year ago.

And the thing is: those games will never appear on Gamepass, it is curated as hell with "acceptable indies" and AAA wankfests.

 

[vitormg]

I have AssCreed Origins on Uplay as part of a past Humble Monthly... Just bought the gold edition on Steam during the sales. At least I'll get more content (DLCs), but I feel kind of shamed to have bought the game twice lul

 

[Mor]

That whale has low textures particle effect that ruin screenshot

It's an impressive moment, for real.

The more I play Death Stranding, the less I understand the mixed reception on consoles. It's so fucking good! It's No Man's Sky all over again. The trailers showed exactly what the game was but idiots somehow deluded themselves into thinking there had to be more to it that they were keeping secret for no reason whatsoever lol.

Also, I've been sleeping on using photo mode in games. It's pretty fun!

Pictured above: me, seconds before I lost my footing and ate about half a mountain's worth of shit. BB is dead now.

Absolutely agree, game is AMAZING! surely in my top 10 of 2020

 

[texhnolyze]

No Geralt, no watch.

Who am I kidding? Day 1.

 

[Li Kao]

Anyone getting Grounded tommorrow?

Good reminder, thanks !

 

[Durante]

If there is one critique i have with game pass

For me, it's the distribution method and UWP.
Out of 4 games I played on the service I had issues with 3 of them which either wouldn't have happened with a Steam release or would have been easy to fix as a user.

 

[Aaron D.]

YouTube plays a big role in my gaming experience. Whether it's tips & tricks, discovery, or just watching my favorite personalities playing my favorite games. YouTube is always there as a great bonus supplement to the hobby.

Now I've been known to favor niche-ass-niche gaming. Stuff IGN & GameSpot will never cover. But I've always been able to connect with that 'dozens of us!' crowd playing these oddball releases on YouTube. Don't think I've ever come up blank no matter how weird or obscure the release.

Well I guess today is a first.

There is not a single video for the recently released Logistical: Earth on YouTube. Not one!

It's almost impressive.

Game is pretty ace so far. It's like Rise of Industry. Only like a million times larger in scope...and jank. You use various vehicles (land, sea, air) to move goods around to meet production & consumption needs for towns, businesses & industries. Each location on the map can have multiple nodes (business, residential, etc.) with specific needs. Sometimes it can be a single product, other times it's multiple unit types. There's a Contracts system that always provides direction (complete Christchurch, NZ to unlock new vehicle type, do Napier, NZ to get a 10% power buff on all your dump trucks). So while you literally have the world at your fingertips, it doesn't feel overwhelming or aimless.

I think it uses real-time Google Earth imagery so there can be a bit of lag if you move across a country or zoom all the way in (massive zoom scale never gets old). It's not too bad though. Not sure of the production-team size, but it def. has that one-person show kinda vibe to it. It's got that folk-art kind of charm I can always get behind. Rough around the edges, but doing something quite unlike most anything you see out there.

It's a great puzzler with a Zen kinda vibe to it. 50K towns & 160K businesses means there's no shortage of content. Believe I read somewhere that there's thousands of hours worth of content on offer.

Quite an interesting oddity for simulation/logistics fans. I've been playing the Steam demo for hours and it doesn't seem close to ending yet. Prob. pick it up proper tonight.

 

[bobnowhere]

For me, it's the distribution method and UWP.
Out of 4 games I played on the service I had issues with 3 of them which either wouldn't have happened with a Steam release or would have been easy to fix as a user.

it's definitely better now, at the start games wouldn't download or patching would fail. It also would fail if you installed on different drives. The only issue I have now is I can't install or uninstall Wasteland Remastered, I'm just stuck with an icon.

 

[Cacher]

[UWSL][/UWSL]

Anyone getting Grounded tommorrow?

Totally forgot about it. Not picking it up at launch as I am broke, but I will try it on game pass.

 

[MonthOLDpickle]

Anyone getting Grounded tommorrow?

Is there even a price yet?

 

[Ge0force]

For me, it's the distribution method and UWP.
Out of 4 games I played on the service I had issues with 3 of them which either wouldn't have happened with a Steam release or would have been easy to fix as a user.

Same here. Especially the encryption of all game files (and thereby blocking most perks of pc gaming like modding, advanced tweaking, user content etc) prevents me from using Game Pass.

 

[low-G]

Anyone getting Grounded tommorrow?

Maybe! I adore the theme, both from a Honey I Shrunk The Kids & macro world perspective, and from a “hey I’ve seen this tiny bug before and now it’s in the game!” perspective.

 

[toxicitizen]

Absolutely agree, game is AMAZING! surely in my top 10 of 2020

Hell, it might actually be the best game I've played this year, period. And while I've only played like three other games so far, one of them was Witcher 3. It's kind of apples to oranges but that's how much I'm enjoying it.

I stick to shorter play sessions for Death Stranding (shorter compared to Witcher 3, at least) so I'm not gonna lose entire days in it like I did in Witcher 3. But in building an entire game around fetch quests and what would be considered downtime in other games, Kojima somehow created an experience with essentially no downtime whatsoever. I spent like an hour climbing a steep mountain earlier, constantly reloading because I kept eating shit and damaging my cargo (I may have chosen my path poorly...), and it was the most fun I've had with a game in ages.

 

[low-G]

The more I play Death Stranding, the less I understand the mixed reception on consoles.

Regardless of the quality of the thing, most console gamers effectively don’t go for gameplay you can’t sum up in a sentence fragment.

 

[Parsnip]

I'm nowhere near the top of the most games owned list with mt 2091. I even removed some bundle garbage from my account not too long ago.

I'm a bad steam user, getting rid of games instead if hoarding more.

 

[Swenhir]

Same here. Especially the encryption of all game files (and thereby blocking most perks of pc gaming like modding, advanced tweaking, user content etc) prevents me from using Game Pass.

I feel the same way. User control is something I care deeply about and this rips it straight out of our hands. That, and I don't want to encourage subscriptions over ownership as it disagrees with me anyway.

 

[texhnolyze]

Just fought a giant god-like enemy while riding a heavy yet nimble mech.

It's so anime it's so good lol.

 

[Le Pertti]

I get why people are concerned about the ownership aspect of gamepass but the way I see it the same as with netflix and spotify, they don't replace ownership but just complement it. I guess that is also why I accept not being able to mod and such, because I see it as a rental and if I really want to mess around with the game I buy it.

And someone who doesn't have alot of money I mostly use gamepass to play games that I otherwise wouldn't be able to.

 

[Trisolarian]

I spent way to much fucking time playing Enter The Gungeon and watching Adventure Time during the down time I had this past weekend. I did play a bit of Horizon Zero Dawn DLC, ClusterTruck, Halo 3 and Outer worlds.

Can get past 3rd level of ETG's dungeon. I'm unlocking weapons, shops and items at a good clip but I'm just hitting the wall. Might have to uninstall it and come back to it in a week.

I get why people are concerned about the ownership aspect of gamepass but the way I see it the same as with netflix and spotify, they don't replace ownership but just complement it. I guess that is also why I accept not being able to mod and such, because I see it as a rental and if I really want to mess around with the game I buy it.

And someone who doesn't have alot of money I mostly use gamepass to play games that I otherwise wouldn't be able to.

Gamepass is amazing and its got me feeling something about eventually jumping on x clould with a thin client device to save space and power in the future. Already replaced ownship for me in some ways.

NON GAMING CONTENT BELOW

Just a general PSA, don't hike in muddy and rocky place IF you don't have hiking boots that still have tread on them. I wore my old boots on a hike sat morning, nearly bought it stepping down from a large bolder. Caught myself falling back with one hand. Wrist still sore, right leg minor muscle pull and slight re-aggravation of an old knee injury (had it since I was 24, so 8 years), upper back muscle on left side still sore. I'll heal up and be back to activity soon and I'm ultra lucky for it. Be careful people, even if your fleet footed and have great balance/stamina, no one is invincible and nature doesn't play.

 

[ISee]

There is a Destroy All Humans Remake coming tomorrow: I had no idea.

It's so anime it's so good lol.

I agree. Even reminds when I tried watching Neon Genesis Evangelion, many years ago.
I also had no idea what was going on.

 

[Swenhir]

I get why people are concerned about the ownership aspect of gamepass but the way I see it the same as with netflix and spotify, they don't replace ownership but just complement it. I guess that is also why I accept not being able to mod and such, because I see it as a rental and if I really want to mess around with the game I buy it.

And someone who doesn't have alot of money I mostly use gamepass to play games that I otherwise wouldn't be able to.

We don't know it won't replace. Not only do I not care for it, I'm careful not to encourage it. Enough of computing is moving into AnythingAAS already to scare me as it is .

Just a general PSA, don't hike in muddy and rocky place IF you don't have hiking boots that still have tread on them. I wore my old boots on a hike sat morning, nearly bought it stepping down from a large bolder. Caught myself falling back with one hand. Wrist still sore, right leg minor muscle pull and slight re-aggravation of an old knee injury (had it since I was 24, so 8 years), upper back muscle on left side still sore. I'll heal up and be back to activity soon and I'm ultra lucky for it. Be careful people, even if your fleet footed and have great balance/stamina, no one is invincible and nature doesn't play.

I'm glad you didn't get too injured but this sounds like every waking nightmare I have about going down steep and dangerous slopes. Glad you're okay!

Edit :

THIS IS MY NIGHTMARE

Sheer 1-200-m drop beyond what passes as a railing with slippery scree.

 

[toxicitizen]

Regardless of the quality of the thing, most console gamers effectively don’t go for gameplay you can’t sum up in a sentence fragment.

Yeah, I try to stay away from platform warring nonsense and avoid reductive generalizations, but in this particular case I'm really struggling to think of an explanation that's not unflattering to console players. It's why I find it so baffling. I mean, surely it's not just the lack of shootbang gameplay that made people dislike this?

 

[Knurek]

Only 73 achievements? Oh how the mighty have fallen.

 

[Trisolarian]

We don't know it won't replace. Not only do I not care for it, I'm careful not to encourage it. Enough of computing is moving into AnythingAAS already to scare me as it is .


I'm glad you didn't get too injured but this sounds like every waking nightmare I have about going down steep and dangerous slopes. Glad you're okay!

My issue is that I didn't have nightmares about this, so I just put it out of my mind that it was a possibility. I haven't fallen on a hike in years and years. So naturally, I figured I could get away with it. The sneaky thing is that this wasn't a slop, it was literally just a path that had a large boulder, mostly sunken into the ground that a couple steps to get on top and a couple on the way down.

 

[Aaron D.]

Only 73 achievements? Oh how the mighty have fallen.

Curiosity drew me to Steam's Logistical 1 page.

What in the actual f?

 

[Kyougar]

YouTube plays a big role in my gaming experience. Whether it's tips & tricks, discovery, or just watching my favorite personalities playing my favorite games. YouTube is always there as a great bonus supplement to the hobby.

Now I've been known to favor niche-ass-niche gaming. Stuff IGN & GameSpot will never cover. But I've always been able to connect with that 'dozens of us!' crowd playing these oddball releases on YouTube. Don't think I've ever come up blank no matter how weird or obscure the release.

Well I guess today is a first.

There is not a single video for the recently released Logistical: Earth on YouTube. Not one!

It's almost impressive.

I know the feeling. But it never happened to me with a newly released game. Most often I search for an old game, like from the 90's
Akte Europa or Achtung! Spitfire. Or a Modpack for an old game, like Open General.
There are sporadic single videos of them, but never a let's play.

 

[fantomena]

.

What YouTube channels do you recommend?

 

[EdwardTivrusky]

I'm sure i've seen a youtuber video for Logistical a few weeks ago. No idea who it was or why it popped up in my list but it's how i know it's not the game for me but i'm glad it exists.

 

[ezodagrom]

Just fought a giant god-like enemy while riding a heavy yet nimble mech.

It's so anime it's so good lol.

There's more mech missions to come in the future, in episode 4 there's a certain urgent quest that also uses that mech (the very first episode 4 boss urgent quest, most likely coming out during August), I'm not gonna spoil what the fight is about, but it's really absurd (in a good way).

 

[Knurek]

Curiosity drew me to Steam's Logistical 1 page.

What in the actual f?

They had to actually spread DLCs into separate AppIDs, because Valve's backend couldn't handle more than 10k cheevos.

 

[AHA-Lambda]

Damn, Fall Guys is the PS+ freebie for August, jealous!

Is there PC/PS4 crossplay? Should help it keep a lively playerbase

 

[fantomena]

Is there PC/PS4 crossplay? Should help it keep a lively playerbase

Should be.

 

[Aaron D.]

What YouTube channels do you recommend?

I have no time for screamers, opting instead for chill, laid-back streamers.

Indie (discovery):

SplatterCatGaming

I live in the East Bay, California When I was two years old my parents made a horrible mistake and bought a nintendo, (For themselves) and it has been a gian...

www.youtube.com

Alpha Beta Gamer

www.alphabetagamer.com is the number one resource for Alpha and Beta testing of video games on the internet. The website is updated daily with beta tests, gr...

www.youtube.com

Keith Ballard

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Intel Core i7-5820K CPU @ 3.30GHz Columnar Jointing Collection: https://imgur.com/a/Alpmz Keith Ballard 2300 Sylvan Avenue P.O. Box #...

www.youtube.com

Nookrium

This channel is devoted to everything indie games. I scour the web for the hidden gems of the gaming world and show them off here, with a new indie game vide...

www.youtube.com

Tomato's Trash

www.youtube.com

Strat/Sim (tips & tricks):

quill18

Quill18 wants to rule the world. What could possibly go wrong? Tune in to one of the biggest strategy gamers on YouTube as he conquers his foes in strategy a...

www.youtube.com

KatherineOfSky

I am KatherineOfSky and I love to play a wide variety of games on my channel: from experimental indies to AAA titles, I tend to play what gives me joy and br...

www.youtube.com

Arumba

Daily HD content on grand strategy games! Primary content at the moment is Europa Universalis IV and Crusader Kings 2. I love to learn new games and discover...

www.youtube.com

CohhCarnage

CohhCarnage and The Cohhilition are a community of people who all share the "Happy, Helpful, Respectful" Mantra. A home for everyone who is looking for a gre...

www.youtube.com

DasTactic

Strategy Games! Illustration! I love procedurally generated (random) content and my channel covers a lot of games that highlight replay-ability! I hope you l...

www.youtube.com

Long-form critique (appreciation):

Chris Davis

I usually make long-form critiques about RPGs, however, I cover anything that takes my fancy and talk about it for as long as I want to talk about it.

www.youtube.com

Gaming Historian

The Gaming Historian is a documentary series all about the history of video games. I also like to review books and certain games that I find interesting. The...

www.youtube.com

MandaloreGaming

King of Limbo.

www.youtube.com

Noclip

We make crowdfunded video game documentaries for everyone to enjoy. Our mission is to tell authentic stories about video games, the people who make them, and...

www.youtube.com

Super Bunnyhop

Welcome to Super Bunnyhop, where we make pseudo-journalistic content about video games! Your host: George Weidman Updates on Thursdays (sometimes Fridays) Ch...

www.youtube.com

....................

Quick-shot faves include Tomato, quill18, Mandalore

 

[yuraya]

Grounded looks like a good gamepass game at launch and buy later down the line when its complete on steam. The theme is very funny and looks like a fun game. Its basically The Forest only with insects instead of cannibals lol. Obsidian is promising a mysterious story for it too so hopefully it turns out to be good.

With Grounded, Flight Simulator and Wasteland 3 coming soon...its actually a good time to resub to gamepass

 

[lazerfox]

Damn, Fall Guys is the PS+ freebie for August, jealous!

Is there PC/PS4 crossplay? Should help it keep a lively playerbase

I get the feeling that Fall Guys is going to be huge on Steam and PS4. Similar to Rocket League but not quite as successfull.

Game totally looks fun and it reminds me of that japanese TV show Takeshi's Castle which i loved as a kid.

 

[Kyougar]

What YouTube channels do you recommend?

I did this post 2 years ago:

Quill18 is good for 4X, normal Strategy and Simulations quill18 (Sadly, he does normal let's plays less and less and concentrates on Twitch)
Skystorme is good for City-builders, Simulation, 4X, RPG and Strategy: Skye Storme (still active)
Briarstoned is good for RPG's and 4X Briarstone Gaming (inactive since half a year)
TheXPGamers is good for Spacethemed Simulation and 4X games TheXPGamers (most games are heavily modded. still active)
Leyllin2 is good for Strategy, 4X Lyellin2 (still active)
Echo Six is good for JRPG's and mainstream Visual Novels Echo Six (still active)
Northernlion, he is good for 4X, RPG's, Strategy, City Builders and Co-Op shooters. Oh, and he did 4000 FOUR thousand Binding of Isaac Videos. Northernlion (still active)
[German] AldemarHD is good for Strategy, Survival, 4X, Early Access AldemarHD (still active)
Arumba is good for Grand Strategy also with Multiplayer Arumba (inactive since 2 months ago)
Rhadamant is good for 4x, Strategy and Grand Strategy Rhadamant (still active)
Rinimt is good for JRPG and Nintendo rinimt (still active)

 

[fantomena]

Grounded looks like a good gamepass game at launch and buy later down the line when its complete on steam.

My problem with this is that if there isn't any crossave between gamepass/winstore and Steam, that would mean I would have to start from scratch on Steam if I played it via game pass.

+ the lack of playtime tracking on game pass (only certain games support it on Xbox app, don't know if Grounded will).

 

[NarohDethan]

Huh, not-Suikoden is already half funded

 

[Nabs]

cute cat

 

[NarohDethan]

cute cat

If I knew how to make emojis

 

[Nabs]

If I knew how to make emojis

(moneycat)

 

[AHA-Lambda]

 

[NarohDethan]

(moneycat)

You’re a saint

 

[lashman]

If I knew how to make emojis

https://metacouncil.com/account/user-smilies

it's literally THAT simple

 

[QFNS]

That Eiyuden Chronicle kickstarter should be funded by the end of the day if the momentum keeps up. They are over $350k as I type this.

That battle snippet looks gorgeous. They committed to using SPRITES! Sprites! My god. I haven't heard of someone talking about sprites in years.