PC Games General Thread

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Dr. Zoidberg
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Re: PC Games General Thread

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Half-Life 2 has been given a surprise update with ultrawide support and FOV improvements

The patch also adds Vulkan support in preparation for the Steam Deck

Valve has quietly released an update for Half-Life 2 which seemingly adds a number of new features and repairs some long-standing bugs.

As spotted by Valve YouTuber Tyler McVicker, Valve has added a beta branch to the game on Steam which seems mainly designed to prepare the game for the Steam Deck handheld, but also adds some new features better suited to PC players.

McVicker points out that because the update is still in beta form just now there are no patch notes yet, but he did note that the main focus of the update appears to be adapting the resolution scaling and the UI to make sure the game looks good on Steam Deck’s 1280×800 resolution.

The HUD has now been unlocked and scales to whatever resolution the game is being played at, and if players are using a widescreen display the HUD elements are now much larger and easier to see.

This is how the game was intended to be seen, and because Valve never took the time to fix it we’ve been playing an inferior version”, McVicker claims.

Players can now also increase the game’s field of view to 110 without having to modify the game’s .DLL files, and the game now also supports ultrawide monitors.

Perhaps most telling is the newly added support for the Vulkan rendering API. Vulkan is compatible with Linux, which the Steam Deck’s SteamOS uses, and offers lower CPU usage and more direct control of the GPU compared to other AIs.

Valve also added Vulkan support to Portal 2 earlier this year, leading McVicker to suggest that the company is planning to add Vulkan support to many of its own games to prepare them all for the Steam Deck.

Valve announced this week that it’s launching a new rating system that will let Steam Deck owners easily tell which games are best suited for play on the Deck.

The company is in the process of reviewing the entire Steam catalogue, and is marking each game with one of four ratings designed to show how smooth the experience will be when playing that game on its upcoming handheld.

Announced in July, Steam Deck is described as “a powerful all-in-one portable PC” capable of running the latest AAA games.

Steam Deck runs the latest version of Valve’s SteamOS software – which is based on Linux – allowing players to access their Steam games library and all the platform’s features.

However, Valve insists Steam Deck is also an open PC with the ability to install any software or connect with any hardware.

Source: VGC

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Re: PC Games General Thread

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Denuvo Servers Go Down Leading To Some Games Becoming Unplayable On Steam

Denuvo is one of the leading DRM solutions on PC and for games on Steam and the servers for the DRM are apparently down leading to issues.

It has been reported all over reddit, social media, and REE! that the Denuvo servers are facing issues that are leading to some games becoming unplayable. One of the recent examples is Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy but several other games also use the service to offer protection from cracks on PC.

One of the users who shared about the DRM issue confirmed that one of the games that are affected by this outage is Shadow of the Tomb Raider. That user has also shared a screenshot that reveals the extent of this error.

Image

If you are trying to play games now that have Denuvo DRM protection, you might receive the following error message. “The server is not reachable. Check your internet connection and click ‘Retry’.”

This error has more to do with the outage being faced by Denuvo DRM than anything else. One of the supposed origins of the issue is related to DNS renewal which could have led to this problem according to a tweet.



If you are facing issues with playing games on Steam that use Denuvo DRM, your best bet is to wait for a fix. If you have any other games that are unplayable, let us know in the comments below.

Source: Twisted Voxel

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Re: PC Games General Thread

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Fuck Denuvo

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Re: PC Games General Thread

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damn, now I gotta make space for the Friday update. Changelog:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app ... 8358116511

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Re: PC Games General Thread

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Here’s a look at TFM: The First Men, an upcoming game based on stories of the first men. Infinite possibilities await your very own Adam and Eve as they embark on a generation-spanning adventure.

A strategy simulation enriched with character-driven base building, party-based exploration, and tactical real-time with pause combat. Inspired by the creation stories, Knights and Merchants, Rimworld, and almost every fantasy roleplaying game.

TFM: The First Men is scheduled to release sometime in the Spring of 2022 and is available to wishlist now on Steam.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/7008 ... First_Men/

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Re: PC Games General Thread

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Half-Life 3 is reportedly not in development, as ‘Valve focuses on Steam Deck’​

It’s claimed that all attention is being placed on games that better fit Valve’s upcoming handheld

Half-Life 3 is not in active development, and Valve is instead focusing on Steam Deck friendly titles, according to a report.

Tylver McVicker of Valve News Network states in a new video that according to his sources, there is no sequel to Half-Life 2: Episode Two currently being developed.

“To get the big question out of the way, is there a true follow-up to Half-Life 2: Episode Two in development in any capacity at Valve Software?” McVicker asks in his new video.

“The end of Half-Life Alyx, for those who haven’t played it heavily, hints towards the continuation of Gordon Freeman’s story.

“The issue is that no, at the current time, there isn’t a major development team working on anything outside of the few pieces of software that are specifically tailored for hardware right now.

“Valve is trying to get the Steam Deck out and, like many people have observed, the Steam Deck has been significantly more successful than originally anticipated, so Valve is throwing a lot at it.

“Half-Life 3, Half-Life 2 Episode 3, any kind of traditional mouse and keyboard FPS at Valve is not taking place, [and] if it its, it’s a very small group of people and those individuals will not be seen as value generating by the higher-ups.”

McVicker claims that Valve is instead working on a separate project called Citadel, which McVicker has been reporting on for some time.

According to him, Citadel’s game mechanics make it a better fit for the Steam Deck, which is why Valve is reportedly focusing on that.

“Valve is working on a piece of software to best showcase what the Steam Deck is capable of doing – Citadel,” McVicker explained.



“This is a nostalgia fest, this is a Half-Life based FPS/RTS hybrid that is co-operatively based. Think about Left 4 Dead and Alien Swarm, and RTS and Half-Life all having a baby.”

Announced in July, Steam Deck is described as “a powerful all-in-one portable PC” capable of running the latest AAA games.

Steam Deck runs the latest version of Valve’s SteamOS software – which is based on Linux – allowing players to access their Steam games library and all the platform’s features.

However, Valve insists Steam Deck is also an open PC with the ability to install any software or connect with any hardware.

Source: VGC

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Re: PC Games General Thread

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GOG is losing money and refocusing on ‘handpicked selection of games’​

It’s apparently transferring some developers

CD Projekt says its GOG games storefront will put more focus on offering “a handpicked selection of games” and transfer some developers to other projects, following ongoing financial losses at the division.

“Regarding GOG, its performance does present a challenge, and recently we’ve taken measures to improve its financial standing,” CD Projekt CFO Piotr Nielubowicz told investors on a quarterly earnings call. “First and foremost, we’ve decided that GOG should focus more on its core business activity, which means offering a handpicked selection of games with its unique DRM-free philosophy. In line with this approach, there will be changes in the team structure.”

Nielubowicz said that some developers who’d been working on GOG’s online solutions will be transferred from the project. At the end of 2021, GOG is also leaving the Gwent consortium, a cross-division project related to CD Projekt’s The Witcher card game Gwent. This means it won’t bear any development costs or share any profits from the development consortium. CD Projekt previously called Gwent “the most important project of 2017 in the GOG.com segment.”

These latest statements came after disappointing financial results for GOG. The storefront saw a slight increase in revenue but a net loss of around $1.14 million in the last financial quarter. Overall, it’s lost about $2.21 million over the past three quarters compared to a $1.37 million profit over the same period in 2020. CD Projekt didn’t immediately reply to questions about how its new strategy might translate into changes to GOG’s features or catalog.

GOG launched in 2008 as Good Old Games, a platform built around selling hard-to-find classic games without digital rights management or DRM. Since then, it’s expanded into a more all-purpose storefront selling new third-party games and internal studio CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077, plus an online service called GOG Galaxy. But it’s also faced apparent financial problems before, laying off a reported 10 percent of its staff in 2019.

One staff member tied the earlier layoffs to increased competition in PC gaming storefronts, which has driven major platforms to lower the commission they take from developers. Valve’s Steam service has long dominated the market for computer game sales. At least one recent competitor, the Epic Games Store, isn’t expected to turn a profit until 2024. And Epic’s store is cushioned by revenue from the publisher’s blockbuster game Fortnite and Unreal game engine. Meanwhile, CD Projekt Red’s botched 2020 launch of Cyberpunk 2077 has put a damper on its recent earnings — although the company says it has seen renewed enthusiasm for the game and is “on track” to release a delayed update in early 2022.

Source: The Verge

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Re: PC Games General Thread

Post by ian »

Panzer Dragoon Online.. I mean Century: Age of Ashes is out!
CENTURY.png
If you're planning on playing it at this stage, be aware the game will match your Desktop resolution. (Advanced Video settings are coming soon)
My desktop is 4K UHD, and in the tutorial and first 3v3 skirmishes It was beautiful and smooth on ultra graphics settings.
But then I got into my first 6v6 match where everyone was spamming smoke trails. a GTX 1070 is NOT suitable for this.
Even on medium settings at 4K the smoke effects are brutal.

Game modes so far:
3V3 Skirmish (rookie matches to level 5 and then normal after that)
6V6 Carnage (Just a team deathmatch - total kill counter)
6v6 Gates of Fire (Capture a flag and then fly it through a bunch of gates... This mode is either fantastic or the biggest frustration in the world. A few times I found myself talking loudly or yelling a COME ON to no one)
6v6 Spoils of War (Get as much gold as you can, and then get it back to your base)

3 classes of Dragon:
Marauder (hunter)
Phantom (Stelth)
Windguard (support)

In the 6v6 gates of fire and spoils of war modes it's often a clusterfuck of hilarity and confusion, and if those modes had 3v3 options it would be nice.

The game works properly so far and is quite fun, you can even raise baby dragons from eggs you can hatch.
(you unlock an egg and then complete various tasks to make it grow up)
I played 6.9 hours in one sitting, so they must be doing something right because I hardly play ANY games for 7 hours in one go anymore.

Even though I suck at it, it's for the most part a lot of fun.
(Free to play with in game skin purchases, not pay to win) Playwing has done a good job overall listening to feedback from 2 beta tests and adding in more options right out of the gate.

It's dragons!
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Re: PC Games General Thread

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Sweet, I've got it downloading now. I played War Thunder for a little bit and could use another F2P distraction.

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Re: PC Games General Thread

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After I heaped praise on the game we got a nice glitch tonight, although I imagine it wasn't so nice for the other side of the glitch...

The matchmaking for the game is usually pretty good, but every now and then it'll match a team of 6 level 2-3's against a full team of level 20-30's for some reason. So about 2 in every 5 games you either have a cake walk or an impossible exercise in being obliterated.
3 of the 5 games you feel it's well balanced and you could either win or lose depending on skill, and these nail biting matches are the ones I'm really loving.

The glitch tonight was quite a fun one.
I was in a squad with the guy who put me onto the game (Gaiden Shinji) we joined a 3V3 queue, and as soon as we got in to the class select screen I thought we'd been separated somehow. He was showing up with 2 randoms, and I wasn't showing up at all on the splash screen and I thought I'd been put into a different game from him somehow. Audible confusion as we were on discord together (The game has no ingame chat which makes it way better than most online games) Turns out we WERE in the same game.
20211206211051_1.jpg
this 3V3 Skirmish, 5 of us ended up on one team, and one poor guy ended up by himself. It was hilarious for us, a 5V1 slaughter house wondering what the fuck was going on. To be fair the single guy by himself was a good guy and pretty decent player and stayed till round 3 before disconnecting (If the game had an honour system I would have given him honour for being a good sport and not just leaving instantly).

As you can see, I've gone down to playing at 1440P on medium settings. Advanced graphics options cannot come fast enough for this game so I can have my 4K epic quality dragon, and lowest quality shadows, and water, and effects and backgrounds. I'm here for the dragons, and it's not disappointing.
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Re: PC Games General Thread

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think this will go here

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Re: PC Games General Thread

Post by ian »

More Dragons!
I've since started giving them nicknames because I don't like the default names as much as I like all the classic dragon names.

Rhuagh. from Raymond E. Feists' Riftwar Cycle.
Rhuagh.png
(Raised from an egg)

Smaug. from J.R.R. Tolkiens' Middle-earth legendarium
Smaug.png
(Purchased as adult dragon from the store = Cost 5 days or 20 hours gameplay worth of coins)

Ancalgon The Black. Also from J.R.R. Tolkiens' Middle-earth legendarium
Ancalgon The Black.png
(unlocked as an adult from a gifted code)

The game has 2 forms of currency: Coins (which you earn a lot of)
And Gems which you don't earn much of, but you CAN buy them with real money.
I just paid 1500 Gems (part of a founder pack) for a legendary white dragon egg.
Dragons come in common, rare, epic and legendary tiers at the moment, but rare and epic ones are actually more common than common ones at the moment. you don't see common ones all that often because as soon as you get a better looking one, everyone uses that instead.

The White Dragon already has a name and I haven't even started raising it yet.
Haku. From Spirited Away.
First blue dragon will be called: The Blue Dragoon. From this should be clear.
First purple dragon CLEARLY has to be Spyro.
First Red and Green Dragon has to be Jake Long. Etc Etc.

I may not like the names, but they've certainly gone to great lengths to make their own lore.
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Re: PC Games General Thread

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That's awesome :ocool:


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Re: PC Games General Thread

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Experience a classic Dungeons & Dragons action role-playing game, as Interplay Entertainment (IPLY) and Wizards of the Coast rerelease the iconic action-RPG Baldur’s Gate for the first time on PC, Mac & Linux.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1695 ... _Alliance/

A NEW LEGACY BEGINS...

Experience the massively popular world of Baldur's Gate as never before. Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance thrusts you into an epic Dungeons & Dragons adventure filled with intense action, intricate puzzles and sinister intrigue, where your mastery of cold steel and devastating spells is the only thing between you and ultimate evil.

• A ground-breaking adventure, featuring the 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons® rule set.

• Explosive spell effects and incredibly detailed creatures and environments deliver a more realistic gaming experience.

• Three customizable characters, each with distinctive powers, appearances and abilities that develop throughout the game.

• Battle alone or join a friend in two-player cooperative mode.

• Explore Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance all over again, experiencing newfound adventures with a different customized character or replaying in Extreme mode for ten times the difficulty and fun.

• Dolby Surround sound, real-time sound effect mixing, Hollywood voice talent and an original soundtrack by acclaimed composer Jeremy Soule.

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Re: PC Games General Thread

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Hitman 3 has 50% negative reviews on Steam​

Mostly because of the price

Hitman 1-3 is a fantastic trilogy and, also, a curse upon digital storefronts. Hitman 3 frustrated players when it first launched on Epic, because their progress didn't carry over; Hitman 1 frustrated players on GOG last year because its internet requirements constitute DRM; and now Hitman 3 is back at it again on Steam. It currently has "Mixed" reviews after arriving on the platform earlier this week, with players cross about its price, its umpteen editions, and - yes, again - progress not carrying over for some.

At the time of writing, Hitman 3 on Steam has a mere 50% positive reviews. Chief among the issues in negative reviews is the price, which is set at £50/$60 for the standard edition. That's the same price as when it launched a year ago on the Epic Games Store. Some reviews feel it should be lower given a year has passed, while others feel there should be a launch discount. Many users point out that the game has previously been more than half-off on the Epic Games Store.

The issue is that some players waited a year for the game to come to Steam, and feel they ought to be compensated for waiting, while others already own it on Epic or on console and are buying it again for the additional content or to own all three games in one place. In either case, players seemingly feel entitled to a cheaper game.

Making matters worse is that Hitman 3 has a particularly complicated set of editions. There's the aforementioned standard edition, plus a deluxe edition, the Hitman Trilogy, the Trilogy Premium Add-Ons Bundle, the Hitman 3: Seven Deadly Sins Collection, and the Hitman 3 Access Pass: Hitman 2 Gold. These various bundles are offered in respect of players who already own some parts of the content elsewhere, or already own previous games, but trying to work out which contains what and which you should buy is a mission.

Still more complaints centre on some of the new content added for this Steam release, particularly the addition of the previously PlayStation-exclusive virtual reality mode. Most reviews don't offer specifics, only suggesting that the implementation is subpar. "Even a VR mod from a hobby developer is far better than this," writes one reviewer.

Hitman 3 is a great game and a fitting end to a fantastic trilogy. Many of the negative Steam reviews even say so. It seems unreasonable to expect a great game - with another year of content on the way - to be cheap just because it's a year old. Still, players aren't wrong to be confused by the various editions, or to be disappointed by lackluster new modes if they've been compelled to buy the game for a second time. It's a shame that Hitman 3's second launch seems as tainted as its first.

Source: RPS

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Re: PC Games General Thread

Post by Dr. Zoidberg »

Stranded Miners in Space - A PC game developed by NeonBytes is inspired by the retro classic of H.E.R.O

Image

Sometime back we mentioned the classic game of H.E.R.O, which was first released way back in the 1980's for the Atari 800/2600, ColecoVision, C64, C128, and Sinclair ZX Spectrum, was not only being overhauled for the C64 but was also coming to modern systems as an inspired game called 'Bobby Bombastic'. Well if you've given up waiting for those games but still want some H.E.R.O platforming fun, you might want to play NeonBytes latest offering of Stranded Miners in Space; a Windows Game with a hint of MetroidVania style, inspired by the Atari 2600 game H.E.R.O.



In this classic inspired game called Stranded Miners in Space you must search the cave system for the miners of each planet, who have been trapped deep below after being stranded and left behind. The game features multiple planets, different themed underground areas, dangerous enemies such as spiders, and spiders, a hostile environment, 14 levels of fun, original graphics inspired on 8/16 bit games, and original sound!

https://neonbytes.itch.io/stranded-miners-in-space

Source: Indie Retro News

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Re: PC Games General Thread

Post by Dr. Zoidberg »

Mago feels like a long-lost ‘hidden gem’ platformer from the SNES days

Image

[HEADING=1]The free ‘Villain’s Burger’ prologue is worth playing on Steam if you dig action-platformers[/HEADING]

If you’ve run out of retro games to satisfy your nostalgia cravings, then chances are pretty good that you’ve looked around for “hidden gems” for your old-school platform of choice. After tearing through the cream of the crop and the cult classics, it’s natural to start lowering your standards a smidge for flawed, interesting, memorable oddities — the kind of games that get lovingly lumped together in “underrated” or “overlooked” lists.

Mago, an upcoming action-platformer for PC, doesn’t qualify exactly. It’s new! But to me, it captures some of that “wow, how have I never heard of this?” factor. It’s pretty dang neat.

Image

I haven’t played Mago yet, technically — but an extensive free prologue called Mago: The Villain’s Burger just dropped on Steam this week, and it was half an hour well spent.

After seeing a wide-ranging trailer that featured spell-slinging, mech punch-outs, and plenty of out-there boss battles, I knew it’d be a good fit. Mago calls back to the time when we had loads of games with cavemen protagonists, because hey, we’re allowed to do that. There’s a lot going on with this game. In a good way! I’m not sure how “cohesive” everything is, but that also doesn’t necessarily work against it. I appreciate the variety.

I also have to shout out the explorable overworld map, as pictured above — it’s nice to just walk around in between levels and catch your breath. It’s a choice, and I respect that.

Image

During Mago‘s bread-and-butter levels, you’ll fire a spell to stun enemies or unfurl vine walkways and also dash, swim, bounce, and collect orbs scattered along the way for eventual character upgrades. There’s a snappy sense of momentum, and the sprites — including our nimble sorcerer protagonist — are pretty beefy. Think Wario Land 4 beef.

This prologue version of the game also includes some auto-run challenges in which you’ll hop over foes and pitfalls as an ever-charging bird. With speed boosts to nab and speed downs to try and dodge, it’s got a bit of that Donkey Kong Country mine-cart-level trickery to it; some of the item placements can be devious fakeouts. These sections were a bit basic in Mago: The Villain’s Burger, but the trailer for the full game shows more flexibility.

Image

Instead of spending my orbs on more health or an alternate look to replace my sorcerer’s robe, I went ahead and blew it all on a frantic time trial with stitched-together rooms.

Even though the timed challenge is mostly the same kind of platforming with the same general obstacles, the pressure is on — both in terms of an on-screen countdown and the fact that you have to spend orbs on every attempt — and that got the better of me. Sometimes, I’d have to double back to get a key to escape my current room. One particular segment, a “run out the clock” survival room with a bouncing spiky enemy, was my undoing. I knew its path, I swear I did, but I cracked under pressure. I had fun either way.

In other words, I haven’t seen every morsel the Mago prologue has to offer, but I’ve had a good enough time so far to want to invest more into it. The demo did its job.

Whether you’re only curious enough to try this precursor or you think you’d be down for the complete experience, Mago is worth watching. Dream Potion Games and HypeTrain Digital haven’t announced a release date just yet, so sample away.

Source: Destructoid





https://store.steampowered.com/app/1809 ... ns_Burger/

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