Steam Summer Sale: Damage Report

I was really struggling this year to find some games in the sale I was excited about playing. Sure, a lot of stuff on my wish list was discounted, but the discounts weren’t great and they weren’t games I was all that bothered about anyway. But I did pick up a couple of things.

First up was the DLC packs for Forza Horizon 5 – Rally Adventure and Hot Wheels. I loved Forza 5 back when it first released and I wanted to get back to it so I decided to grab the DLC content and start over from scratch.

And then we have Bomb Rush Cyberfunk which is like someone got bored waiting for Sega to make a new Jet Set Radio so they decided to do it themselves. It’s got great reviews but I am a little wary because I don’t just want off-brand JSR. I hope this game has some good ideas of its own.

And finally we have The Invincible which is a narrative sci-fi adventure that looks pretty interesting but I don’t know too much about it and I’m hoping to be surprised.

Steam Next Fest 2024

I thought Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn had a pretty good trailer at the Microsoft Showcase so I was happy to see a demo available during this years Next Fest on Steam. Unfortunately, the demo kind of soured me on the game. I don’t know if the demo is entirely representative of the opening, or if it’s a truncated slice.

I hope it has been cut down, because it’s not a great introduction to the story, world or characters. However, the initial tutorial area as musket wielding soldiers fought off hordes of zombies was pretty unique as a premise, but once I started getting stuck into the gameplay, that’s when things went awry.

Flintlock is unashamedly a ‘Souls’ game and I kind of wish it wasn’t – or rather, I wish it didn’t adhere to the Souls formula quite so rigidly. You collect ‘reputation’ from fallen enemies as a currency that you drop and must reclaim upon death. Resting at a campfire restores your health, refills your healing flasks and musket ammo but also resets enemies within the world. Combat is fairly slow with a lot of circle strafing and dodging.

You have a simple melee attack and your pistol that can interrupt enemy attacks. There is a skill tree where you can use reputation to unlock more abilities, but that’s obviously limited within the demo. There is a parry ability but the timing of it feels off. In fact, a lot of the combat feels off as far as timing and animations go.

Some enemies do the annoying ‘laser guided’ thing where they’ll suddenly shift at an odd angle as you dodge and still hit you. I noticed this with some of the ranged enemies where it felt like they were firing heat seeking musket balls. It just feels slow, clunky and imprecise. I can live with slow, if it feels like it has weight, but here it doesn’t.

It also feels at odds with the game’s attempt at more fast and fluid traversal which ends up feeling awkward and not as smooth as it should. The combat overall, just felt too . . . well, familiar I guess, and I’m not convinced that any unlocks on the skill tree will really change that. It’s a shame, because the idea of a combat system which combines melee (axes) and ranged (muskets) could be pretty neat, but going with such a restrictive Souls model feels like it holds the potential back.

The demo was surprisingly substantial with a lot to explore and I did like how expansive the map was. Visually, it’s nothing special, but it’s fine. Some of the character interactions fell very flat though and the dialogue isn’t great. The world also didn’t feel very coherent, more like a weird mash up of things the developers liked from other games.

At one point I ‘liberated’ the ruins of the village by killing a ‘leader’ bad guy and instantly the village was transformed into a functional place with living people. That was kind of jarring, but not as jarring as the being told to go into a coffee shop to speak with the ‘host’ who it turns out is a weird looking creature but nobody – not even our protagonist – seems entirely surprised by this.

Do humans live alongside creepy monsters in this world? I don’t know, and the demo doesn’t try to explain. I was then on my way to fight a bunch of ‘knights’ which felt straight out of a Dark Souls game but felt very odd here when everyone else was dressed and equipped like a Napoleonic era soldier. Like I said, it’s as if the developers just crammed in all the cool stuff they liked without really taking into consideration the consistency of their own world.

But I don’t want to keep dunking on Flintlock because this was only a demo and I’m sure the developers will polish up and improve a lot of the aspects I’ve talked about and there’s probably also a lot of context and character stuff that just isn’t available yet. That said, the fact that it adheres so rigidly to the Souls formula is still disappointing to me because I was hoping for more of a unique twist and style to Flintlock, so this might be one I give a miss.

Whereas I didn’t finish the Flintlock demo because I just wasn’t enjoying it very much, I didn’t finish The Alters demo because I didn’t want to spoil anything else. I played it for just over an hour and that was enough for me to know it’s a game I’m very interested in picking up at release.

It’s such a cool and unique concept and although the demo wasn’t perfect – the scanning system could certainly use some work – I’m pretty sold on the game regardless. It’s taking the ticking clock mechanic of Frostpunk and combining it with the base building and people management of This War of Mine to create something that feels so original and different and it’s this kind of thing that gets me excited.

It looks great, it walks you through what it needs to but it also it trusts you to figure out things on your own. It’s immediately compelling and immersive and it just gets more intriguing and more engaging as you go.

I don’t really have a whole lot to say about it. I reached a point in the demo where I decided to stop because I just didn’t want to see too much of it now. This one is moving up on my wishlist.

This demo actually released after Next Fest but I figured I’d include it here – Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess. It’s a very unique and stylish action / strategy game in which your goal is to escort a dancing lady through a level whilst fending off attacks by monsters. Each level has a day/night cycle. Day is a safe period during which you can gather resources, free trapped villagers and prepare your defences for the arrival of Night.

Because Night is when the monsters arrive via a magical portal. You play a sword wielding warrior with some simple combo and special attacks but with so many monsters and multiple ‘lanes’ of attack, you can’t be everywhere at once. This is where the villagers you’ve rescued come into play as you can assign them different roles such as a melee fighter, an archer or a healer. You can then position them strategically across the level to maximise their effectiveness against each wave of enemies.

In order to beat the level you just have to guide the dancing lady to the next magical gate to purge and close it. It’s a pretty simple concept, but it gets a little more complex as you progress through the demo with new enemy types to deal with and with more monster lanes to manage.

It’s very colourful and fun enough to play, and I do think the mix of action and strategy works quite well but I must admit, I did find even this limited slice of the game a tad repetitive and basic. I’m sure it gets even more complex in the full game as you unlock more villager types and environmental features, but I just don’t know if there’s enough meat here to really engage me long term. Certainly one I’ll keep an eye on, though.

Gallery: Senua’s Saga (Part 2)

Now Playing: Manor Lords

After finishing up Horizon: Forbidden West, I needed something new to play. I’d heard about Manor Lords and watched a few videos but I wasn’t sure if it was the game for me. A friend picked it up, however, and kept pestering me to play it. I’m glad they did, because Manor Lords was a very pleasant surprise.

It’s an Early Access strategy / city builder. Well, not exactly a city – more a large medieval town. Although the game as it exists today is somewhat limited, there’s still plenty of replay value to be had and I can see so many ways Manor Lords can expand and improve in the future.

And that’s before we even consider potential new game modes or my ultimate wish – a co-op or competitive multiplayer. That might be an ask too far, but damn would it be great to compete with other players on the same map, forming alliances, trading and fighting for territory.

The main game mode in this release build drops you on a map with several regions. The goal is to build your town and claim every region on the map before your opponent – the ‘Baron’. They may attempt to claim regions, but they don’t actually build on the map so there’s no rival town to invade or destroy.

It might seem a little strange but remember – this isn’t an RTS. It’s a city building sim first and foremost with RTS elements. Beating the Baron is all about growing your influence to claim regions and then sending your army to secure them against the Baron’s forces. If you want, you can even build new settlements in these claimed regions and then create trade links between them.

The Baron can and does attempt to claim regions before you but you’re not really under that much pressure so you can take your time and expand as you please. I don’t actually know if it’s possible to lose – does the Baron invade your home region if it’s the only one remaining? That would be cool, but it’s hard to see how badly you’d have to f**k up for that to happen.

There are a couple of other modes to play – a non-combat focused mode in which the goal is simply to grow your settlement to its highest level. It’s a great way to learn the game and I’d recommend starting with it. And then there’s a more combat focused mode where you’re faced with regular attacks although I’ve not really got stuck into that one yet.

The game has default difficulty settings but you can also tweak pretty much everything and jump into a custom sandbox of your own making. There’s only one map right now, and more maps would be an easy way to offer more replay value and variety in terms of terrain. There are a lot of limited or incomplete aspects of this initial release – a technology tree that’s only half finished and the framework of a diplomacy system that doesn’t really do anything right now.

There’s also a lack of decent tutorial stuff so you may need to rely on helpful beginner videos online or just trial and error as you play to figure out how everything works. There are also bugs and plenty of balancing issues but overall, this is still a pretty polished, playable and fun first release.

And it’s very addictive to play. I love building up my village and getting the layout perfect and trying to maximise the efficiency of my little village people. I love that you don’t have to babysit them – once you assign a task they just get on with it.

There are a lot of little improvements to be made though – like setting crafting limits on items rather than having to manually keep track of your inventory. Or setting people to work in particular buildings only during certain seasons.

I think the game also needs more overlays or a single overlay you can customise to show particular information – because as your town expands (or you expand into other regions and start other towns) it can get tricky to keep track of where everything is.

As a city building sim, Manor Lords is very impressive. It automates the tedious stuff and let’s you focus on the bigger picture. I also like that roads are free to place and appear instantly. It’s a small thing, but it really encourages you to experiment and tweak your town layout as often as you want.

Combat in Manor Lords is best described as ‘Total War-lite’. You have small units of up to 36 men. There’s only a few unit types currently in the game (no cavalry, unfortunately) and you can recruit and equip them via your village – either by producing the weapons and armour yourself, or by trading for them. You also have a customisable retinue that comes with each regional manor you establish.

You can only have a maximum of around 7 units – I think, I’m not totally sure on this. In my last game I had 2 retinues and five militia units and it wouldn’t let me recruit more, but I don’t know if that was related to population. There are also mercenaries you can hire to bolster your forces, although these disappeared from my last game entirely and I’m not sure if that’s a bug or intentional.

Combat sees units clashing with some simple animations and winning each battle is a matter of numbers, quality of gear and smart positioning – in other words, try to hit them from behind. It’s pretty basic and small scale right now, but it works.

Overall, I’ve had a great time playing Manor Lords, even during this early release. What really excites me is how much can be expanded or improved upon in the future. What’s here right now is good, but it has the potential to be great. It may take time to get there, but I’m happy to go along for the ride.

7/10

Gallery: Forbidden West (Part 1)

E3 Special 2024

It’s that special time of the year, kids! Sony were up first with a State of Play best described as a ‘wet fart’. Like many people, I thought Concord was going to be some kind of solo or co-op sci-fi heist game but after an overly long, pound shop Guardians of the Galaxy style cinematic trailer, we discovered it’s actually another 5v5 hero shooter *blows a raspberry*

God of War: Ragnarok is coming to PC but I’m not sure I care. I wasn’t a big fan of the original and I’m not convinced any of my issues with the original have been addressed by this sequel. That’s what happens when game journalists circle jerk over a game so hard they forget to highlight its flaws. For a more recent example, see Baldur’s Gate 3.

And finally we have Astro Bot which seems to have gotten Sony fans all in a tizzy but then I guess there’s nothing else to get very excited about if you’re a Sony fan these days. Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t look bad, but I can’t help but wear my cynical hat and wonder why people are so excited to pay to play a game that serves as one long advertisement – sorry, ‘celebration’ – for PlayStation branded products and franchises. Strip those away, and what are you left with?

Summer Game Fest opened with Lego: Horizon Adventures and the story online seemed to be all about how it’s not releasing on Xbox even though nobody expected it to. The real story is that it’s also releasing on PC and Switch Day 1 but not, oddly enough, PS4. I mean shit, if it can run on a Switch it can run on the PS4 so why not target that much larger install base?

The phrase ‘boiling the frog’ feels appropriate here in which the frog are hardcore PlayStation fanboys who Sony are slowly acclimatising to the notion of an increased multiplatform output. Even late PC ports of Sony games received a very negative reaction, but that’s become somewhat accepted now.

‘Live service’ releases on Day 1? They’re not happy about it, but it makes sense, eh? A Lego Horizon game on Day 1? Well, it’s not a proper Horizon game, is it? And Lego games sell really well on Switch, so it makes sense, yeah? What’s that, Sony fanboys? Starting to feel a little warm, eh?

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is looking good if they can smooth out the rough edges of the first game. And finally we have Night Springs, the first DLC for Alan Wake 2 which I should be playing around the time this post goes live. Oh, and I’d like to say Phantom Blade 0 looked neat, like a more stylish ‘Souls’ game.

Ubisoft only really had two things that somewhat interested me, the first being Star Wars Outlaws. I say ‘somewhat’ because it looks just like I expected it to – like a Star Wars game made by Ubisoft – so I’m sorry, but I can’t muster up too much excitement.

And then we had Assassin’s Creed Shadows. I’ve wanted an AC game with this setting ever since the original but the problem is, the series is now so far removed from the AC games that I actually liked, that I just can’t get very excited for it. The series has evolved into something very different from where it started. But hey, I might still give both of these games a shot.

After so much mediocrity, Microsoft absolutely smashed it for the second year in a row. Black Ops 6 actually made me interested in playing a Call of Duty game again for the first time since Modern Warfare 2. I’ll give the BETA a spin, at least. Doom: The Dark Ages looks fantastic. I skipped State of Decay 2, but I’m curious to see how 3 shapes up.

We got our first look at the new Dragon Age and . . . okay, not as excited for this one, but I’ll keep an eye on it. Shattered Space – the Starfield expansion – focuses on House Va’ruun and I’m excited for this one and the regular updates and improvements they’re making to the base game. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 looks impressively flashy with an interesting premise, so that’s another to keep an eye on.

South of Midnight, Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn, the return of Perfect Dark and another look at Fable. But wait, there’s more! Indiana Jones and The Great Circle is looking great, I’m starting to get a little more interested in Avowed now despite not liking The Outer Worlds much, Atomfall looks like a UK based Fallout game and Stalker 2 is also looking good.

And if that wasn’t exciting enough for you, we also had the reveal of Gears of War: E-Day. I really liked the first Gears of War, enjoyed 2 a lot but never really clicked with 3 which was the last one I played but never actually finished.

And finally we have the Nintendo Direct which I wasn’t expecting much from given the Switch 2 on the horizon, but we did get MIO: Memories in Orbit which looked a lot like Bayonetta Origins visually and Ori style gameplay and I’m totally okay with that. There were new games added to Switch Online including Perfect Dark which is pretty f**king awesome. I could break out my N64 copy if I really wanted to, but this is just more convenient.

Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection! Sign me the f**k up! I’d get it just for Marvel vs. Capcom 2, the rest are a bonus! Now we just need to hope it’s a good port. Will certainly save me the trouble of getting out my Dreamcast and Saturn. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom was a big surprise. It’s using a similar cutesy style to the Link’s Awakening remake which I wasn’t a big fan of, but for a new game, I think it looks okay. Mechanically, it’s kind of ingenious which is what you’d expect from Nintendo. Not totally sold on it yet, but we’ll see.

Metroid Prime 4 really exists and it looks exactly how I hoped it would. Not out until 2025 but I’ve got plenty of other stuff to keep me busy in the meantime. A Switch 2 launch title maybe? Overall, a really good show from Nintendo. Not quite as good as Microsoft, but much better than Sony who had another pretty dire year.