gmr_leon

Thanks for the suggestion!

This is definitely in the vein of what I'm interested in, however real-time mechanics as you mention, "Each action (like sending a ship to a location) typically takes an hour or two to finish." are never to my tastes, even if the game is wholly built around them.

Still, I've read some amusing stories produced from games of Subterfuge, so at least I've managed some secondhand entertainment from it!

@Rai ? I glanced at the store page for it and it says network connection not required, so it's not always online, which fits my preferences.

However, that was the Steam version, maybe mobile is different & what you had in mind?

@ItalianSkeletonGaming @games not sure how well alt text federates, so for those wondering the games in the image are Jump4 (top) and ParaPerspective (bottom)

Haven't gotten around to trying any demos yet personally, but ParaPerspective looks like my kinda game as someone that enjoyed Echochrome

Heya, I dig the walls of text sometimes! I also tend to bounce around a variety of games, so I like the idea of short notes about each. Until recently I was writing similar notes digitally as separate notepad files and littering them throughout my computer, but I've been trying to make a habit of using stuff like Zim or Joplin to keep them better organized. 😅

Also right there with you on covering weird jank and "subpar" games, so thanks for writing about them!

Hey yeah, appreciate the detail in how you go about it! I'm kinda surprised by the responses saying they don't tend to write anything until further in and/or completion, but it's reassuring in a way, as that's been my approach too for some time.

I also dig that you try to engage with the "soul idea" as you call it of games. It resembles what I've read elsewhere of a reviewer trying to evaluate in part on whether a game achieved what it set out to do or not, which I thought was interesting.

Interesting approach, and I get it for those more involved or longer games, as some don't even have all their systems in play till awhile into the game (which is worth noting in itself!).

Thanks for your perspective!

Oh yeah, and here's to Outer Wilds! Absolutely a game for the ages!

Your initial claim remains false.

As indicated, digital game storefronts offered refunds explicitly prior to Steam, and it wasn't leading the way, especially given its policy was that all purchases were not refundable, up till 2015's changes.

Leading the way isn't making some exceptions to their policies occasionally, it's making refunds a part of the policies from the outset when others aren't.

@Kedly What? This is flat out untrue. Back in 2008 Stardock's attempt at a storefront via Impulse offered refunds: https://web.archive.org/web/20080708091849/http://tgnforums.stardock.com/315290

Later in 2013, EA of all companies would also offer refunds on their storefront, Origin: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/08/ea-begins-offering-refunds-for-its-digital-game-sales-on-origin/

And later that same year, GOG would offer refunds: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/gog-s-new-money-back-guarantee-is-more-about-trust-than-refunds

It was only a couple years after EA & GOG, in 2015, that Valve began offering refunds on Steam: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/06/valve-begins-offering-refunds-for-all-steam-games/

Not OP, but I hadn't heard of Tempest Rising before! I'll have to keep an eye on that, thanks for mentioning it!

How does some of the Warframe community reconcile that kind of narrative with its whole business model?

I'm aware it's generally considered among the "better ones", but it still is what it is, a freemium game that by necessity has to push its business model on you since it doesn't have an upfront cost.

I guess maybe it inadvertently adds to the atmosphere of being under the heel of capitalists?

Not to mention, sometimes they actively take away from the art direction. You can have a game that's clearly going for semi-realism and yet keeps damage numbers flying off like it's a comic strip, which doesn't fit whatsoever.

The strangest, funniest mixture are the games built off comic licenses that employ a semi-realistic style with damage numbers, when a better combination would be stylized so it would all fit better artistically.

This is a great point (as well as others that have mentioned similar). I wonder if some of the old arena shooters from around then (or their open source offshoots) may handle just as well today, considering that.

I'll have to look into those that are still active and see! Thanks!