What VIDEO GAME(s) have you been playing?

BillyBobThwarton wrote: Humankind is on sale this weekend for $17. Does anyone still playing this have any words of warning or encouragement?

I've written a lot about it around here. It's a big recommend at that price from me but no at full price. It hasn't been super well received but I'd play it over Civ 6 most of the time, even if it's not as polished.

therewillbe.games/forum/video-games/208890-humankind#333961

It is civ 6 in terms of map focused classic civ game but with some smart changes I personally like more. The shifting civ identity mostly works for me and I love their outposts system, it prevents city spam until the end of the game while still allowing you to hold a lot of territory. The on map battle system is just sort of a sidegrade which I don't hate but don't love.

Still slowly plugging away at Dark Souls. I made it past the Capra Demon, who gave me a lot of trouble until I finally managed to get past it to the staircase on a consistent basis.

I had heard this many times about From Software games, DS in particular, but you really do learn how to play the game effectively as you go. I'm noticing that exploration has become less intimidating as I go along, because I'm getting better at dealing with the lower level enemies. I'm still not 100% sure I'm "enjoying" the game in the conventional way. But I want to keep playing so that's something.

Ugh, he was a HUGE pain the ass. It wasn't even him! It was those two dogs!! I finally beat that guy by rushing in, going left to dodge dog #1, heading up the stairs and hacking the dogs in a panic. Capra gets mad and climbs the stairs eventually, but I could then hop down, daring him down, then run back up and do drop attack cycles to kill him. Exhausting.

Yeah, what was giving me all the trouble was that I couldn't get to the stair case. But I started putting the shield up and locking onto him right away. I might take a hit or two, but if I make it up the stairs it's all good. I also had some of that moss that made my sword a fire sword, and he folded to that in a big hurry.

On the round where I beat him, he got held up in the nook beneath the ledge, and never tried to climb the stairs a second time. I got lucky, but as all Dark Souls players know, lucky counts.

I've also been digging Vampire Survivors. I tend to only play one or two games at a time before getting burnt out on it but it's very addictive. I was initially dubious but was quickly sucked in. Gotta say I'm not great at it but last a little longer each time I play. My record after a couple of games a night for the past week is lasting around 11-12minutes and hitting level 17. Pure chaos.

I've also been reliving teenage years with the remaster of Goldeneye on GamePass. Such a great game.

I've been getting into Vampire Survivors as well. It's absurdly addictive. I got to lvl. 48 on one run, and as I unlock things and see how important it is to have upgraded weapons early on I am able to average a deeper run every time. It's one of those stupid/brilliant games.

I picked up Slice and Dice on my phone, which is arun based tactical dice game. It's pretty much awesome. Each class in your party is represented by a custom die, and as you level up you change to different classes with weirder and better dice, and there's equipment that will change specific sides of dice and stuff like that. It's just real really fun.

I've been playing a total conversion mod to Europa Universalis 4 called Anbennar. It's an entirely original fantasy world based on the creator's dissertation. It has some off-brand real world elements, since it's based on EUIV and the mechanics in that game, but by and large it is a pretty cool achievement.

VS gets easier. You get a few unlocks, upgrade a few things, and learn what items combine with what (not just evolutions, but general synergies). It has a good challenge ramp. Always just a little hard to get the next thing.

Ah_Pook wrote: I picked up Slice and Dice on my phone, which is arun based tactical dice game. It's pretty much awesome. Each class in your party is represented by a custom die, and as you level up you change to different classes with weirder and better dice, and there's equipment that will change specific sides of dice and stuff like that. It's just real really fun.

Can testify, this is a lot of fun. Definitely worth $7.