4 Yrsโ#
gardenappl
4 Yrsโ#
So I've decided to start a backlog-blog about my gaming backlog.
I'm not doing this because my taste in video games is somehow amazing, but rather because it might be interesting to see the gaming adventures of someone who:
* doesn't have access to high-end gaming hardware
* spends too much time tinkering with games rather than actually playing them
* likes the Free Software movement and therefore uses Linux instead of Windows on their PC
* (my "PC" is actually a used laptop that I bought years ago... I don't have an actual gaming PC, and I've never owned a console in my life...)
So yeah, my choice of games is pretty limited. As you can imagine, modern AAA titles are mostly unplayable for me, though there are some exceptions. (For example, Metal Gear Solid V performs surprisingly well at low settings, around 20-30 FPS. On the other hand, GTA V is completely unplayable - the level geometry does not load fast enough and I just fall out of bounds as I drive)
Here's what you can expect to see in my blog:
* Games that are available on Linux
* If a game is only available on Windows then it should at least be easy to run using Wine. (huge thanks to ProtonDB as well as Wine's App Database!)
* Games that are easy to emulate (I can handle PlayStation games but not PS2 and beyond...)
* Free and open-source games
* Games which you can play on a shitty laptop
Of course, I hope that my financial situation is temporary, eventually I might build a good PC, buy a Steam Deck or a console, etc. But for now you guys can read this slightly niche blog!
List of completed and "reviewed" games:
This is a list of games which I'd played enough to form a "definitive" opinion on, and thus could "review". Sometimes I mention other games in the blog, without pretending to review them, mainly games that I'd abandoned. These are not included in this list. For example, I'm not interested in most shooters, so I quit Crysis shortly after installing it, therefore it's not on the list. (If you're wondering "can your laptop run Crysis?", the answer is "yes, but only on low settings".)
Blog stats:
* 121 games covered in total
* ๐ง 91 played on Linux
* ๐ช 12 played on Windows
* ๐ฑ 15 played on Android
* ๐ท 44 Windows games played on Linux using Wine or Steam
* ๐ ๏ธ 5 games played on Linux using a fan-made port, custom game engine, or another "hack"
* ๐ฎ 4 games played via emulation
* ๐ 5 games played via web browser
* โ๏ธ 2 game played via streaming service (GeForce Now)
Laptop that I'm using:
* HP Pavillion 15-bw635ur
* I upgraded it from 8 GB RAM to 16 GB so I could do Android development more comfortably.
Custom categories in my games library:
GFN = GeForce Now
Bad Specs + Backlog = I bought this game but my current hardware just cannot play it in a reasonable way.
Bad Specs + Playing, or Bad Specs + Completed = I've been playing this game with minimal graphical settings or at low framerates, which really affected my experience.
Linux Wine + Platform: PC = it's a Windows game which I played on Linux using Wine or Steam.๐ท
Linux Wine + Platform: Linux = it's a Windows game which I played on Linux using a fanmade port, mod or hack - described in more detail in my Hackable Linux Games collection.๐ ๏ธ
I'm not doing this because my taste in video games is somehow amazing, but rather because it might be interesting to see the gaming adventures of someone who:
* doesn't have access to high-end gaming hardware
* spends too much time tinkering with games rather than actually playing them
* likes the Free Software movement and therefore uses Linux instead of Windows on their PC
* (my "PC" is actually a used laptop that I bought years ago... I don't have an actual gaming PC, and I've never owned a console in my life...)
So yeah, my choice of games is pretty limited. As you can imagine, modern AAA titles are mostly unplayable for me, though there are some exceptions. (For example, Metal Gear Solid V performs surprisingly well at low settings, around 20-30 FPS. On the other hand, GTA V is completely unplayable - the level geometry does not load fast enough and I just fall out of bounds as I drive)
Here's what you can expect to see in my blog:
* Games that are available on Linux
* If a game is only available on Windows then it should at least be easy to run using Wine. (huge thanks to ProtonDB as well as Wine's App Database!)
* Games that are easy to emulate (I can handle PlayStation games but not PS2 and beyond...)
* Free and open-source games
* Games which you can play on a shitty laptop
Of course, I hope that my financial situation is temporary, eventually I might build a good PC, buy a Steam Deck or a console, etc. But for now you guys can read this slightly niche blog!
List of completed and "reviewed" games:
๐ 10mg: Cover Me In Leaves - Browser
๐ง๐ท A New Beginning - Windows/Wine
๐ง Absolute Drift - Linux
๐ง AER: Memories of Old - Linux
๐ง๐ท AI: The Somnium Files - Windows/Wine
๐ฑ Artificer - Android
๐ง art of rally - Linux
๐ง A Short Hike - Linux
๐ฑ A Snake's Tale - Android
๐ง A YEAR OF SPRINGS - Linux
๐ง Baba Is You - Linux
๐ช Ballance - Windows
๐ช Bayonetta - Windows
๐ช Blur - Windows
๐ง Bridge Constructor Portal - Windows/Wine
๐ง Celeste 64: Fragments of the Mountain - Linux
๐ง Civilization VI: Gathering Storm - Linux
๐ง๐ท Crazy Taxi - Windows/Wine
๐ง๐ท Cruelty Squad - Windows/Wine
๐ง Crypt of the Necrodancer - Linux
๐ง Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair - Linux
๐ช Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony - Demo Ver. - Windows
๐ง๐ท Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony - Windows/Wine
๐งโ๏ธ Death Stranding - GeForce Now
๐ง Death? Preposterous! A Non-violent RPG - Linux
๐ง๐ท Deltarune: Chapter 2 - Windows/Wine
๐ง๐ท Disco Elysium - Windows/Wine
๐ง Distance - Linux
๐ช Donald Duck: Goin' Quackers - Windows
๐ฑ Don't Move - Android
๐ง๐ท Ducati World Championship - Windows/Wine
๐ช e-Racer - Windows
๐ง๐ท ESC - Windows/Wine
๐ฑ Eves Drop - Android
๐ช FAR: Lone Sails - Windows
๐ฑ FAT BEETS - Android
๐ง๐ท Florence - Windows/Wine
๐ง๐ Friday Night Funkin' - Browser
๐ง Frogatto - Linux
๐ฑ Golf Peaks - Android
๐ง Grim Fandango Remastered - Linux
๐ฑ HaachamaWare - Android
๐ง Heart of the Woods - Linux
๐ง๐ท Hello Charlotte EP1: Junk Food, Gods, and Teddy Bears - Windows/Wine
๐ง๐ท Hello Charlotte EP2: Requiem Aeternam Deo - Windows/Wine
๐ง๐ท Hello Charlotte EP3: Childhood's End - Windows/Wine
๐ง๐ท Hello Charlotte: Delirium - Windows/Wine
๐ฑ Hello Charlotte: Heaven's Gate - Android
๐ช Her Story - Windows
๐ง Highway Blossoms - Linux
๐ง๐ท Hylics - Windows/Wine
๐ง๐ท Hypnagogia ๅฌ็ ่ก - Windows/Wine
๐ง Hypnagogia ็ก้ใฎๅคข Boundless Dreams - Linux
๐ง๐ ๏ธ Ib - Linux/Reimplementation
๐ฑ I Told You So! - Android
๐ง๐ท Jet Set Radio - Windows/Wine
๐ง๐ท Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass - Windows/Wine
๐ช Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights - Windows
๐ฑ๐ ๏ธ Katawa Shoujo - Android/Reimplementation
๐ง๐ท Limbo - Windows/Wine
๐ง๐ท LiEat - Windows/Wine
๐ช Little Nightmares - Windows
๐ฑ LOVE - Android
๐ง LOVE 2: kuso - Linux
๐ง๐ Masks - Browser
๐ง๐ท Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance - Windows/Wine
๐ง Metal Slug X - Linux
๐ง Metal Slug 3 - Linux
๐ช Michael Schumacher's World Tour Kart 2004 - Windows
๐ง Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk - Linux
๐ง Milk outside a bag of milk outside a bag of milk - Linux
๐ง Mini Metro - Linux
๐ง๐ท Moto Racer - Windows/Wine
๐ง๐ท Murder by Numbers - Windows/Wine
๐ง๐ท Muse Dash - Windows/Wine
๐ง๐ท My Time at Portia - Windows/Wine
๐ง Narcissu 1st & 2nd - Linux
โ๏ธ Need for Speed Heat - GeForce Now
๐ง๐ท Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed - Windows/Wine
๐ง๐ท Need for Speed: Underground - Windows/Wine
๐ง๐ท Norco - Windows/Wine
๐ง๐ ๏ธ OFF - Linux/Reimplementation
๐ง๐ท OMORI - Windows/Wine
๐ง one night, hot springs - Linux
๐ฑ๐ฎ Persona 3 Portable - PSP/Emulated
๐ง Pikuniku - Linux
๐ฑ Plant Station: MICRO - Android
๐ฎ R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 - Emulated
๐ช Race Driver: Grid - Windows
๐ฎ Road Trip Adventure - Emulated
๐ง๐ท Sega GT - Windows/Wine
๐ง shapez - Linux
๐ง๐ท SOLAS 128 - Windows/Wine
๐ง SOMA - Linux
๐ง๐ท Sonic Mania - Windows/Wine
๐ง๐ท Space Channel 5: Part 2 - Windows/Wine
๐ง๐ SPACE FROG! - Browser
๐ง๐ท Speed Limit - Windows/Wine
๐ง๐ท Spore - Windows/Wine
๐ง๐ท Street Racing Syndicate - Windows/Wine
๐ง SUPERHOT - Linux
๐ง๐ฎ Super Metroid - Super Nintendo/Emulated
๐ฑ๐ Take It Racing - Browser/Mobile
๐ง๐ ๏ธ Tametsi - Linux/Hack
๐ง๐ ๏ธ The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind - Linux/Reimplementation
๐ง๐ท The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Windows/Wine
๐ง The First Tree - Linux
๐ง The Great Perhaps - Linux
๐ง๐ท The Messenger - Windows/Wine
๐ง๐ท The Silver Case DEMO - Windows/Wine
๐ง The Silver Case - Linux
๐ง TIS-100 - Linux
๐ง UnCiv - Linux
๐ฑ Upset Crab - Android
๐ง Wargroove - Linux
๐ง Wacky Wheels - Linux
๐ง๐ท Water Womb World - Windows/Wine
๐ง World End Economica: Episode 1 - Linux
๐ง๐ท World Racing 2 - Champion Edition - Windows/Wine
๐ง๐ท Worms Armageddon - Windows/Wine
๐ง๐ท Yume Nikki - Windows/Wine
This is a list of games which I'd played enough to form a "definitive" opinion on, and thus could "review". Sometimes I mention other games in the blog, without pretending to review them, mainly games that I'd abandoned. These are not included in this list. For example, I'm not interested in most shooters, so I quit Crysis shortly after installing it, therefore it's not on the list. (If you're wondering "can your laptop run Crysis?", the answer is "yes, but only on low settings".)
Blog stats:
* 121 games covered in total
* ๐ง 91 played on Linux
* ๐ช 12 played on Windows
* ๐ฑ 15 played on Android
* ๐ท 44 Windows games played on Linux using Wine or Steam
* ๐ ๏ธ 5 games played on Linux using a fan-made port, custom game engine, or another "hack"
* ๐ฎ 4 games played via emulation
* ๐ 5 games played via web browser
* โ๏ธ 2 game played via streaming service (GeForce Now)
Laptop that I'm using:
* HP Pavillion 15-bw635ur
* I upgraded it from 8 GB RAM to 16 GB so I could do Android development more comfortably.
Custom categories in my games library:
GFN = GeForce Now
Bad Specs + Backlog = I bought this game but my current hardware just cannot play it in a reasonable way.
Bad Specs + Playing, or Bad Specs + Completed = I've been playing this game with minimal graphical settings or at low framerates, which really affected my experience.
Linux Wine + Platform: PC = it's a Windows game which I played on Linux using Wine or Steam.๐ท
Linux Wine + Platform: Linux = it's a Windows game which I played on Linux using a fanmade port, mod or hack - described in more detail in my Hackable Linux Games collection.๐ ๏ธ
4 Yrsโ#
gardenappl4 Yrsโ#
I'll start this off with Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. I just completed it and wow, I adore it.
I've grown to really like indie games, specifically the mind-fucking fourth-wall-breaking type of games (potential spoiler!). I don't know if Danganronpa counts as an indie game or whatever, but it absolutely scratches that itch for me.
10/10, fill me with despair and fill me with hope again. The characters can be annoying and shallow, which is not good considering it's a visual novel. But considering that it's mainly a detective game and a psychological horror game, I don't think that every character needs to be especially deep, simply being "interesting" is good enough. And Danganronpa has no shortage of wacky and interesting characters. Overall, this game did its job extremely well, I think.
Highly recommend Game Grumps' let's play series on Danganronpa 1. I'm looking forward to seeing them play Danganronpa 2 and comparing how well each of us predicted the events!
I've grown to really like indie games, specifically the mind-fucking fourth-wall-breaking type of games (potential spoiler!). I don't know if Danganronpa counts as an indie game or whatever, but it absolutely scratches that itch for me.
10/10, fill me with despair and fill me with hope again. The characters can be annoying and shallow, which is not good considering it's a visual novel. But considering that it's mainly a detective game and a psychological horror game, I don't think that every character needs to be especially deep, simply being "interesting" is good enough. And Danganronpa has no shortage of wacky and interesting characters. Overall, this game did its job extremely well, I think.
Highly recommend Game Grumps' let's play series on Danganronpa 1. I'm looking forward to seeing them play Danganronpa 2 and comparing how well each of us predicted the events!
5 Yrsโฅ$โ#
This is a great theme for a blog! I'm excited to follow your posts here.
4 Yrsโ#
FrozenRoy
4 Yrsโ#
This looks pretty interesting for a blog theme, I'll be keeping an eye on it.
6 Yrsโฅ$โ#
ThomasE
6 Yrsโฅ$โ#
I agree with the others: very interesting theme for your blog. I'll be around to check it out! :)
I bought a new gaming PC a few months ago, made it a dual boot and was very surprised what long way gaming on Linux has come, especially thanks to Steam/Proton. Most of the games I bought so far ran without any issue. I don't play AAA titles though. But e.g. Hollow Knight, Ori and the Blind Forest, Total War: Warhammer II: no problems.
Now I just buy games on Steam without caring if they were developed for Linux natively (and if I can't get them to run either immediately or after fiddling around the notes from ProtonDB for a bit I just give up and play them on Windows).
I'm looking forward to your blog!
6 Yrsโฅ$โ#
ThomasE6 Yrsโฅ$โ#
How did you enjoy 2 in comparison with 1?
Most of the time people online seem to favour 2 over 1 and either consider 2 or 3 their favourite entry in the series. But for me 2 lacked a bit in terms of dark/sincere atmosphere. My rating is, I guess:
3 > 1 > 2 > UDG (although 3 and 1 are really both equally awesome).
7 Yrsโ#
QueenVakarian
7 Yrsโ#
Wooh another Linux user! Love seeing the user base continue to grow.
That said this blog is actually a wonderful concept! I see people asking all the time around various sites if their system will run x or y game. So to have a blog that does just that really becomes a wonderful tool. Honestly, if you're ok with it, I'd love to reference this as it grows when I cross the question.
I hope your gaming experience, regardless of specs, is and continues to be enjoyable. Happy gaming!
That said this blog is actually a wonderful concept! I see people asking all the time around various sites if their system will run x or y game. So to have a blog that does just that really becomes a wonderful tool. Honestly, if you're ok with it, I'd love to reference this as it grows when I cross the question.
I hope your gaming experience, regardless of specs, is and continues to be enjoyable. Happy gaming!
4 Yrsโ#
gardenappl4 Yrsโ#
It's hard for me to compare because I haven't actually played Danganronpa 1, I only watched the Game Grumps play it. They made jokes during their playthrough so it really didn't feel that dark.
Honestly, I did not notice too much of a difference between the two games, except that Danganronpa 2 had a much more intense ending. I think I enjoyed it just a bit more.
Sometimes it felt like the entire game just revolves around Nagito, but I guess the same could be said about Kyoko hand-holding you in the first game, so I dunno.
4 Yrsโ#
gardenappl4 Yrsโ#
I'm glad that people like this theme, but I didn't plan to turn this into a reference guide or whatever. Personally, if I'm not sure whether or not I can run a game, then I probably won't even buy it (unless there's a really good sale, in which case it might just stay in the backlog for years).
This works out well because, if a game requires a high-end PC, then chances are that it's a very hot new game which will cost 60$. The games that I tend to buy are usually much, much cheaper than that.
When it comes to really popular titles, I can recommend the Low Spec Gamer youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/c/LowSpecGamer/videos), this blog was partially inspired by it. Also, just look at the minimal requirements, it's not super hard.
12 Yrsโฅ$โ#
One of the YouTube channels I pop onto now and then is all about low spec gaming, about seeing how far they can push settings and config files and hacks to run modern games on absolute potato PCs. Usually the results are somewhat amusing.
Even though Iโve always been one to try to push maximum frames and maximum quality in the fairly good mid-range PCs I tend to build, Iโm always interested in what those with a lower budget can achieve.
Now that Iโve moved back to Apple again after selling my gaming PC and investing in a new M1-based Mac mini (and an Xbox Series X for sofa gaming, which I prefer these days), I thought I might be within that realm, but the integrated GPU is actually pretty capable - better even than a dedicated graphics card like a GTX 1050 Ti. For a tiny, low power consuming, totally silent computer, itโs incredible stuff - Intelโs integrated GPU offerings really are useless in comparison.
Nearly all the games Iโve tried work pretty well and are perfectly playable. And only a few havenโt worked at all, with Rosetta translation failing for some reason. The only issue is that many of the games in my library are still 32 bit, and so donโt run at all.
Even though Iโve always been one to try to push maximum frames and maximum quality in the fairly good mid-range PCs I tend to build, Iโm always interested in what those with a lower budget can achieve.
Now that Iโve moved back to Apple again after selling my gaming PC and investing in a new M1-based Mac mini (and an Xbox Series X for sofa gaming, which I prefer these days), I thought I might be within that realm, but the integrated GPU is actually pretty capable - better even than a dedicated graphics card like a GTX 1050 Ti. For a tiny, low power consuming, totally silent computer, itโs incredible stuff - Intelโs integrated GPU offerings really are useless in comparison.
Nearly all the games Iโve tried work pretty well and are perfectly playable. And only a few havenโt worked at all, with Rosetta translation failing for some reason. The only issue is that many of the games in my library are still 32 bit, and so donโt run at all.
4 Yrsโฅ$โ#
churros
4 Yrsโฅ$โ#
Go Linux! ๐ง
I confess I do have a couple of Windows boxes (for gaming and work-related stuff) but my 'real personal' computer will always run some lightweight Debian-based distro.
What's yours? I've been using Lubuntu for quite a while and I'm not planning to change anytime soon (already survived the change from LXQt to LXDE). For Linux gaming, which I don't do quite often, it's pretty much RetroArch or Steam+Proton (ProtonDB is quite nice).
I confess I do have a couple of Windows boxes (for gaming and work-related stuff) but my 'real personal' computer will always run some lightweight Debian-based distro.
What's yours? I've been using Lubuntu for quite a while and I'm not planning to change anytime soon (already survived the change from LXQt to LXDE). For Linux gaming, which I don't do quite often, it's pretty much RetroArch or Steam+Proton (ProtonDB is quite nice).
4 Yrsโ#
FrozenRoy4 Yrsโ#
I wonder, can you run GBA emulators on this? They're VERY low spec and if they work that's a ridiculously huge library to work with.
6 Yrsโฅ$โ#
ThomasE6 Yrsโฅ$โ#
I'm not one for distro hopping. I think I tried out other distribtions as a teenager (SUSE I think?) but ever since I installed Debian for the first time this has been my default. I really love the idea of the community behind it (even though I literally contribute nothing).
But I only truely made the change to Linux three or four years ago. Before it was always dual boot and time spent almost exclusively on Windows.
4 Yrsโ#
gardenappl4 Yrsโ#
I got really really bored during one summer vacation, so I installed Arch. I thought it might squeeze extra performance because it's so lightweight. But in the end I found that the distro doesn't matter, what matters is the desktop environment (e.g. GNOME can be sluggish but XFCE will always work on anything).
Oh, and I also dual-boot Windows, but only as a last resort.
4 Yrsโ#
gardenappl4 Yrsโ#
Yeah, I've played MOTHER 3 and I've played Zelda Minish Cap, wonderful games. I can also emulate PSP so I'm playing Persona 3 Portable.
4 Yrsโ#
OmegaCzar
4 Yrsโ#
You can play Cyberpunk 2077 on your laptop right?
4 Yrsโ#
gardenappl4 Yrsโ#
Buy me a copy and I might test it out. :P
4 Yrsโฅ$โ#
churros4 Yrsโฅ$โ#
I've also tried openSUSE when I was younger, but I didn't stick with it. To be honest, I guess half of the reason for trying it out was the cool logo.
4 Yrsโฅ$โ#
churros4 Yrsโฅ$โ#
Yeah, agree, the desktop environment matters a lot.
I was always a fan of GNOME 2, especially over KDE (I guess 3 at the time). When GNOME 3 got released I was so disappointed, it felt the very opposite of 2, I guess it was influenced a lot by touch-friendly interfaces.
MATE looks really sweet, but now I'm already pretty comfortable with LXDE. But I have to say, if everything else fails, XFCE it's always there for me. Using it nowadays feels just like using it a decade ago (and that is a compliment).
I did my fair share of messing around with Openbox when I was younger, such fond memories of using the Crunchbang distro with all their 'pre-cooked' configurations and scripts. Now I'm too old and grumpy to handcraft my own desktop.
Other than the desktop environment, the package manager it's also pretty important to me (maybe even more).
10 Yrsโฅ$โ#
uvehj
10 Yrsโฅ$โ#
The desktop environment or window manager is key. I'm running an old laptop, and the only reason that it's still trucking on is that it's running i3wm, which is blazing fast (or regular speed on this computer, but the rest of DEs and WMs on this laptop feel like they are on slow-motion)
4 Yrsโ#
gardenappl4 Yrsโ#
Earlier, I talked about Danganronpa, and jokingly called it a psychological horror game. The truth is, I've never actually played a horror game before.
Well, today I completed my first one!
SOMA is a horror game about Artifical Intelligence, people uploading their minds into computers, and how all of this could go horribly, horribly wrong. These topics are interesting to me as a CS student, which is why this game was recommended to me. At the same time, AI and mind-uploading are just naturally scary topics if you think about them for too long, so it totally makes sense to make a horror game out of it.
The game is set in an underwater research facility, which is a very unique environment. You start out close to the surface, with sunlight illuminating beautiful wildlife, but then gradually dive deeper and deeper into the abyss. I had to lower the resolution and turn the texture quality all the way down to get a good framerate, but honestly, the blurriness works kinda well for an underwater horror game! :D
SOMA did get very stressful towards the end, to the point where the monsters were too much to deal with, so I ended up consulting a walkthrough to find the escape routes in some places. Having to simultaneously figure out puzzles, and run away from fucked up biomechanical abominations, was not fun. I'm not sure if it's my fault for being a pussy or if it's the game's fault. Or maybe horror games are just not my thing.
Luckily, most of the game can be explored at your own pace, with monsters only occasionally challenging you. This is how the first 80% of the game is structured, and I much preferred this kind of setup. It's a shame that I had to ruin my immersion with a walkthrough at the end.
The whole experience for me was maybe a 7/10 or a 8/10, but I'm gonna pretend that it's my fault for being too scared - I'll give SOMA the benefit of the doubt and give it a solid 8/10.
Well, today I completed my first one!
SOMA is a horror game about Artifical Intelligence, people uploading their minds into computers, and how all of this could go horribly, horribly wrong. These topics are interesting to me as a CS student, which is why this game was recommended to me. At the same time, AI and mind-uploading are just naturally scary topics if you think about them for too long, so it totally makes sense to make a horror game out of it.
The game is set in an underwater research facility, which is a very unique environment. You start out close to the surface, with sunlight illuminating beautiful wildlife, but then gradually dive deeper and deeper into the abyss. I had to lower the resolution and turn the texture quality all the way down to get a good framerate, but honestly, the blurriness works kinda well for an underwater horror game! :D
SOMA did get very stressful towards the end, to the point where the monsters were too much to deal with, so I ended up consulting a walkthrough to find the escape routes in some places. Having to simultaneously figure out puzzles, and run away from fucked up biomechanical abominations, was not fun. I'm not sure if it's my fault for being a pussy or if it's the game's fault. Or maybe horror games are just not my thing.
Luckily, most of the game can be explored at your own pace, with monsters only occasionally challenging you. This is how the first 80% of the game is structured, and I much preferred this kind of setup. It's a shame that I had to ruin my immersion with a walkthrough at the end.
The whole experience for me was maybe a 7/10 or a 8/10, but I'm gonna pretend that it's my fault for being too scared - I'll give SOMA the benefit of the doubt and give it a solid 8/10.
4 Yrsโฅ$โ#
Cock
4 Yrsโฅ$โ#
I'm glad you enjoyed that game. I absolutely adored it when I played it last year.
I don't remember the ending being particularly difficult to follow. I do get though that some monster encounters can be very stressful in this game. I honestly dreaded every single stealth environment. lol It genuinely made me feel really uneasy and nervous every time I had to maneuver around lurking creatures without getting noticed. But it was a good kind of stress to me. It fit the atmosphere and I was more impressed with how effective it was for me than anything else. What I remember being a bit frustrating to me though were one or two chase sequences around the middle of the game.
- Matt
4 Yrsโ#
gardenappl4 Yrsโ#
Finished art of rally today! Very fun and beautiful racing game.
Simple but vibrant art style, gorgeous soundtrack and engine sounds. Normally when I play racing games, I turn off the music and turn the sound effects way down, and play with a podcast in the background to keep myself focused (sometimes it can be a useless Zoom lecture instead...). But this game sounds fantastic and so I was willing to play it without any distractions.
It is simpler than other rally games: there is no co-pilot explaining the route, instead you just see what's ahead of you thanks to a birds-eye view camera. There are also no tuning options, but there is a damage model which discourages you from, y'know, damaging your car and driving stupidly, and that's good enough.
The simplicity might make the game a bit repetitive, but I still enjoyed it the whole way through. The physics are really fun (although RWD cars are extremely difficult to drive when using a keyboard...), and there is enough variety between different cars and car classes.
Another 8/10, this game was a good time. I'm thinking of buying a gamepad and revisiting this game later, among with some other racing games. Keyboards don't allow for very precise driving, so I imagine art of rally would be more fun with a more proper controller.
Simple but vibrant art style, gorgeous soundtrack and engine sounds. Normally when I play racing games, I turn off the music and turn the sound effects way down, and play with a podcast in the background to keep myself focused (sometimes it can be a useless Zoom lecture instead...). But this game sounds fantastic and so I was willing to play it without any distractions.
It is simpler than other rally games: there is no co-pilot explaining the route, instead you just see what's ahead of you thanks to a birds-eye view camera. There are also no tuning options, but there is a damage model which discourages you from, y'know, damaging your car and driving stupidly, and that's good enough.
The simplicity might make the game a bit repetitive, but I still enjoyed it the whole way through. The physics are really fun (although RWD cars are extremely difficult to drive when using a keyboard...), and there is enough variety between different cars and car classes.
Another 8/10, this game was a good time. I'm thinking of buying a gamepad and revisiting this game later, among with some other racing games. Keyboards don't allow for very precise driving, so I imagine art of rally would be more fun with a more proper controller.
4 Yrsโฅ$โ#
churros4 Yrsโฅ$โ#
I feel pretty much like you about Art of Rally, such a lovely little game.
Another game with such a 'tactile feel', simple graphics, and incredible sound design is Lonely Mountains: Downhill. I'm not sure how it runs on Linux, but ProtonDB gives it a 'gold'.
Another game with such a 'tactile feel', simple graphics, and incredible sound design is Lonely Mountains: Downhill. I'm not sure how it runs on Linux, but ProtonDB gives it a 'gold'.
4 Yrsโ#
gardenappl4 Yrsโ#
The demo version for Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony is terrible. So bad that I will write yet another long review for it.
Unlike the first two games, it's only available for Windows, and is a bit of a pain to run on Linux. No big deal, I decided to boot into Windows for this occasion, the demo is only 1-2 hours long, after all. But even playing on Windows, the PC port sucks!
The first thing I noticed is that the starting cutscene is really laggy - when the audio is done playing, the video is stuck 20 seconds behind. I'm not the only one having this issue and it's not just because of bad hardware. The rest of the game is weirdly laggy, too. Visually, there's a lot more going on compared to Danganronpa 1 & 2, but not enough to decrease performance this badly, I'd imagine.
I played with a mouse and keyboard but the game thinks I'm using a gamepad, and gives all of its tutorials using gamepad controls. On top of that, the keyboard controls are different from Danganronpa 2, so I was very confused. By the end of the demo I still couldn't figure out how to fast-forward the trial.
Sometimes the mouse button got stuck and the game skipped dialogue before I could read it.
The "plot" in the demo is boring and ends very abruptly. What's worse is that I don't even care how the stupid trial ends, I'm just disappointed that they didn't make a proper ending.
Maybe this is just a tech demo to showcase the new graphics? If so, that's cool, but I hope they optimized the game for the full release. I'll reiterate that all of this is happening on Windows and is not Linux's fault.
The characters and graphics are cool and the demo is a little bit intriguing, but ultimately very frustrating, 5/10. Please tell me that the full version is better than this! It's more expensive compared to 1 & 2, so I will wait for a sale, and then probably play it on Linux.
Unlike the first two games, it's only available for Windows, and is a bit of a pain to run on Linux. No big deal, I decided to boot into Windows for this occasion, the demo is only 1-2 hours long, after all. But even playing on Windows, the PC port sucks!
The first thing I noticed is that the starting cutscene is really laggy - when the audio is done playing, the video is stuck 20 seconds behind. I'm not the only one having this issue and it's not just because of bad hardware. The rest of the game is weirdly laggy, too. Visually, there's a lot more going on compared to Danganronpa 1 & 2, but not enough to decrease performance this badly, I'd imagine.
I played with a mouse and keyboard but the game thinks I'm using a gamepad, and gives all of its tutorials using gamepad controls. On top of that, the keyboard controls are different from Danganronpa 2, so I was very confused. By the end of the demo I still couldn't figure out how to fast-forward the trial.
Sometimes the mouse button got stuck and the game skipped dialogue before I could read it.
The "plot" in the demo is boring and ends very abruptly. What's worse is that I don't even care how the stupid trial ends, I'm just disappointed that they didn't make a proper ending.
Maybe this is just a tech demo to showcase the new graphics? If so, that's cool, but I hope they optimized the game for the full release. I'll reiterate that all of this is happening on Windows and is not Linux's fault.
The characters and graphics are cool and the demo is a little bit intriguing, but ultimately very frustrating, 5/10. Please tell me that the full version is better than this! It's more expensive compared to 1 & 2, so I will wait for a sale, and then probably play it on Linux.