Reply With QuoteIs that like Nethack but with nicer graphics?
Oh, I didn't even realize it was something new. I'll stick with my usual EA caution and wait. It's funny though, this is the third time in as many decades that ADoM's creator has announced a sequel. Looks like it stuck this time.Originally Posted by Malf
Is that like Nethack but with nicer graphics?
Original ADoM is very much like Nethack (but with a more coherent plot/setting), down to the blessed/cursed items and eating corpses to gain intrinsic resistances. Dunno about the new one, though.
Strangely, all of the big roguelikes from the early Internet (ADoM, Nethack, Angband, Crawl) are still in active development. Angband in particular saw large changes over the past few years, having its magic and classes revamped. One of the new classes can turn into a fox.
Last edited by Anarchic Fox; 13th Jan 2022 at 18:27.
So, what do y'all think are the most essential modern like-Rogue Roguelikes? I want to make a little one after Cherub Adventure.
I don’t know if “like Rogue” would exclude Hades and Dead Cells, but those are the two that immediately come to mind.
I do mean in the more purist sense. I am familiar with those, thanks.
Brogue and Sil are the most elegant. Caves of Qud or Cogmind are on the gonzo end. I've considered buying people here copies of Caves of Qud in return for their opinion, I like it so much, but I admit it's niche.
The recent Roguelike that's sucked me in the most has been Shattered Pixel. I'd play it on my phone. (It's on the PC too.) It's not such a grand show like Hades or Dead Cells, you're just tapping on your phone, but it's designed really, really well.
What I particularly like about it actually is what I liked about Deadly Rooms of Death (which was just getting mentioned above) and Caves of Qud does this really well too, and that is turn-based adventuring, where you have a mass of enemies, and on the harder levels you have to think really strategically because every single move through a sequence can be life or death, and you need to think 5 or 6 moves in advance.
And then you add the roguelike randomness to that, where you can mix tons of different weapons, armors, enchantments, curses, potions, spells, etc. in countless different combinations in countless different tactical situations, and it really hits a sweet spot. But I like that it's turn-based, so it can get really intense, but you still have all the time in the world for each move.
Edit: For the curious, Anarchic Fox's post ninja'd mine, so I had no idea Caves of Qud was just mentioned, but I guess it's not too much of a coincidence since it is an awesome game in the roguelike neighborhood. It has that same intensity as Shattered Pixel at times, but spread out over this much vaster world and story with a lot of other things going on too.
Last edited by demagogue; 14th Jan 2022 at 00:37.
I don't mind, I'm happy to see someone else who knows about both it and Deadly Rooms of Death. The latter seems undeservedly obscure despite, in its time, having developed an entire community and culture with specialized modding terminology, kinda like our neighbors further down the forum list. There's joy in that series for people with the right neurological quirks.
For more detail on my suggestions... Brogue is the most Rogue-like roguelike you'll find, but now with masterful game design and balance. It has multiple victory conditions, simple-but-deep systems, and short playtimes. Sil thoroughly rethinks how magic should work in a roguelike, and is also elegant and refined compared to most roguelikes, but I think it requires ample experience with roguelikes. Caves of Qud and Cogmind migrate the genre to postapocalyptic science fiction settings in two very different ways: in one you're a (possibly mutant) scavenger unearthing the mysteries of the old world, in the other a scrapped robot piecing itself back together from scattered parts. The first two are free, as it happens.
Thanks, guys, this is tremendously helpful! One of my concerns was that, while I played a lot of Nethack and Moria back in the day, the core gameplay loop wasn't much fun, mostly just run around and hack at things. It's good to hear that's been addressed in multiple ways.
EDIT: From the "Sil" manual: "...a game called Rogue that was written before computers had graphics..." Lol no.
Last edited by Pyrian; 14th Jan 2022 at 01:54.
I injured my hand over the holidays and I'm only just recently starting to get back to normal. While I'm resting my hand I find myself playing Phoenix Point or Jupiter Hell as those can be played with a mouse (though Phoenix Point, frustratingly, isn't completely mouse-only as there are no on-screen camera controls like XCOM.) When I'm feeling up to it, I'll pick up the ol' Dualshock 3 (using DsHIDMini) to play through Drakengard 2, the non-Yoko Taro sequel to Taro's first game, the inimitable Drakengard.
Here's a hot take: I appreciate what the original Drakengard was trying to do, but as a sequel the game is leagues ahead of it: better gameplay, better graphics, coherent plot. What more could you ask for?
I stopped playing Tyranny, because I realised that I simply wasn't particularly engaged - and I'd rather not play another 30-40 hours like that. I might return to it at some point, since it's possible that I'm just not in the right place for the game right now. Anyway, I played through Samsara Room instead, one of the Rusty Lake puzzle games, and while the puzzles were a bit more convoluted than I like, these Rusty Lake shorts are always wonderful in terms of atmosphere and tone.
I'm thinking that next weekend I'll probably get started on the Outer Wilds DLC. I loved the original game, so I think I should dig this much more than Tyranny.
HowLongToBeat lists Tyranny as a ~20 hour main campaign which feels correct to me, so if you don't do lots of side stuff you're probably much closer to the end than you anticipate.
Perhaps, but I don't want to play an RPG (or any game, unless it's really just five hours max) just to complete it. If I don't like it enough to want to explore the world and characters further, I'd rather put it aside for now and play something else.
Taking a break from Greedfall to play Dad of Boy on PC having previously played it on PS4.
It's still a fantastic game, although I have knocked the difficulty down for this playthrough, as "Give me God of War" just gets frustrating these days.
The port's really good, with excellent visuals at a high framerate and plenty of options for tweaking. Although the lack of FoV options can make it feel a little claustrophobic, and can take away from the sense of scale at times (the first encounter with the World Serpent in particular struggles to convey just how huge the big guy's head is).
I've whacked everything up to Ultra at 2560x1440 on my RTX 2080 Super, and apart from a couple of dips here and there, it's been buttery smooth.
It really is one of the best looking games out there, with excellent use of colour and lighting, as well as superb camera work. It does something very cool in that it is effectively all one long camera shot (if you don't die. Good luck with that!)
That's where the game gets its reputation as a cinematic one, and there's a lot to that. But it doesn't take away from how satisfying the moment-to-moment gameplay is.
Controls haven't really changed, although it does fully support mouse and keyboard. But I wouldn't recommend playing the game that way, as if nothing else, you'd miss out on the delightful feedback you get when throwing and recalling the axe.
In addition, I don't know if it's down to the improved framerate or something else, but I'm having a lot easier time countering attacks on this version, which is very satisfying, especially for ranged attacks.
The combat and story remain as engaging as they've ever been, and the two central performances are fabulous. But I suspect that by the end, as with the first time I played it, I'll still have that weird feeling about the game that it is at once both too long, but also somehow incomplete.
One of my original irritations with the game is also still present, as with many games these days, RPG-style mechanics have been forced into the game, and feel very out of place. Skill trees being the least of the offenders, the game is bogged down by Diablo-style levelled gear, which actively detracts from the purity of the game.
I can't help but feel it would play a lot better without such mechanics. If nothing else, needing to constantly access menus to tweak skill trees and manage gear takes away from that previous artistic triumph of the game being one long shot.
Earlier God of War games would have provided player options through multiple weapons, and had a more classic approach of unlocking different abilities through defeating bosses, completing quests and general progression rather than through crowbarred RPG mechanics. And I can't help but feel that this game would be better if it had taken a similar approach.
Still, highly recommended, especially if you've never played the game (or previous God of War ones).
It's an excellent example of what Sony's first-party studios do best, and is an experience rarely found on PC.
Last edited by Malf; 17th Jan 2022 at 05:47.
Finished replaying Batman: Arkham Knight. When I played it on release it just felt like a really solid conclusion to Rocksteady's Batman trilogy, think I appreciated it a lot more after some distance. The way you transition between on-foot/gliding/driving/tank are so damn SLICK! That you switch between such varying movement speeds and scales and it all feels seamless. All the attention to detail is great too and I the way it involves so many story-lines and keeps it all coherent is very impressive. Just a great game!
Launched Outer Wilds again after 1+ years, because I want to finally play the DLC. Tried to refamiliarise myself with the controls, which took a while. Since I didn't know where to start, I followed this satellite or craft zooming around in the skies that I didn't remember being there before. Haven't done anything else yet, but I'm looking forward to getting back into this world and starting to explore.
Haven't done this in a while. Let's see...
- Astalon: Tears of the Earth (PC) - Very cool retro-inspired, pixel-art, 2D Metroidvania that has you explore ancient ruins in a post Apocalyptic ruins as three adventurers (a rogue, a warrior and a mage) that have different abilities that allow you to traverse the ruins. Combat is simple, but fun with a wide variety of enemies, some pretty fun boss battles and a lot of good ol'platforming. Highly recommended! Here's a trailer for the curious - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V87xLFNs-EA
- Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (PS4) - After a few false starts, I am gritting my teeth and going all in to kick ass ten ways 'til Friday. I've beaten every FROM game since OG Demon's Souls but Sekiro (though, I want to redo Demon's and Dark Souls 1 completely solo). Currently fighting Genichiro atop Ashina Castle. I'm already able to deliver one deathblow. Second deathblow should be forthcoming soon enough.
- GTFO (NVIDIA Shield) - Started playing this one after it came out of Early Access. Think Aliens meets Left 4 Dead and is challenging as all Hell. Horror-survival fps co-op game that oozes atmosphere and is fun to play with peeps, though you can also play solo with bots if you like the extra pain.
- Guardians of the Galaxy (NVIDIA Shield) - Boy, this game sure does look pretty and runs butter-smooth in the NVIDIA Shield, especially since I upgraded my membership to the RTX 3080 founders membership. Really fun, single-player romp in the GotG Marvelverse, though I do feel it was a bit of a wasted opportunity not to have co-op seeing how there are, well, 5 Guardians. Oh, well....still a fun game with solid combat, a bit of exploration, and a LOT of banter between the crew (and that's not a complaint, mind you).
And that's all he wrote. Meep meep.
I've been slowly gaming more lately, breakups will do that to you (ha!). I inaugurated my new rig with a System Shock 2 run. That was fun, I hadn't been back on the Von Braun in literally years...
I upgraded primarily for Cyberpunk 2077, I'm going through it right now. So far it's fine, though nothing different from DXMD at first sight, but maybe that will change.
Upon completing SS2, I fired up Dishonored, which according to my old saves I hadn't played since January 2016... I was pretty flabbergasted by that, time really flies. I never finished the sequel and I'm planning to, but I wanted to revisit the first one first.
So, mix of nostalgia play and catching up with my "pending" list... All in all, 2022 is starting ok
Hell yeah; Genichiro's a bastard, but once you've got him down you'll be ready to enter the whole world of, well, even more difficult bosses. And feel free to post your trials and tribulations over in the Sekiro thread.
I played that a few months ago during a big Metroidvania binge. I liked the variety of secrets held within the tower, including a secret ending. There were also some interesting-looking bonus modes. It's the closest thing I've found lately to a third La Mulana.
He is, he is, and I know there are much bigger bastards than him down the road, but that's ok. I'm patient (and stubborn). After all, I beat Bloodborne: The Old Hunters DLC on NG+3, losing more than 60 times (each) with Ludwig, Lawrence and Orphan (Lady Maria took me about a dozen tries and the Living Failures no more than five, if that many). I had to farm to restock my full supply of health potions. Twice.
I had the patience then, I have it now. These bosses are already dead—they just don't know it yet. <3
I already got the secret ending where you immediately leave the tower with the blue warrior as soon as you start the game and the regular one. I think I own both La Mulana games, but still haven't given them a go. I should fix that.
I'm currently playing Eagle Island and Cat Quest II.
Eagle Island is a Metroidvania-esque roguelite platformer, what drew my attention to it was this run from AGDQ 2020:
While I haven't gotten very far into the game, I have enjoyed it so far and will very likely complete it.
Cat Quest II is surprisingly enough the sequel to Cat Quest and plays much the same. Except now you have both a cat and a dog to control, which means you can either couch co-op or just play singleplayer and swap between the two. So far it doesn't seem like there's any difference actual gameplay between the characters, but you can equip them with different types of gear and have one be a fighter and the other a mage. Overall I find the gameplay enjoyable, even if the cat/dog puns and references can be a little much at times.
I've only played another hour or so of Echoes of the Eye, but damn, does this game (the main game as much as the DLC) do discovery brilliantly. I don't remember many other games I've played where I just sat there gawping at the place I'd just ended up in.
Echoes of the Eye is also slightly overwhelming, just like Outer Wilds, which I had to learn how to play so I could enjoy it. When I first played Outer Wilds, I found myself pulled into every direction at once, and as a result my explorations were unfocused and the world and the story didn't much come together to form a whole. It's only once I decided to pull one loose thread and keep pulling until I'd more or less exhausted it, and only moving on if I was either done or stuck, that things fell into place. I suspect it'll be the same with Echoes of the Eye.
There's another one, where you find a way to cheat the demon out of claiming the mage's soul, but it's otherwise identical to the regular ending.
They're good, but a tad niche. The game world is swathed in dozens of overlapping puzzles, growing in complexity and/or perversity as you progress. Note-taking is recommended, as is consulting a walkthrough once you get fed up, because some of the puzzles are really obscure. Also, the platforming mechanics have some quirks you need to get used to, particularly your limited ability to change momentum in the air.I think I own both La Mulana games, but still haven't given them a go. I should fix that.
I found that the puzzles really added to the sense of exploration, and the areas have a Dark Souls-like tendency to open up new and unexpected connections as you progress.
For me, I'm slowly progressing in Disco Elysium, and wondering whether I can figure out a place to buy a PS5 before Elden Ring comes out.
