Previously, I had mused over vague ideas about whether blockchain technologies could go into a “proof of real person” system, by one-way-hashing information used to verify only basic details about a person. Eg: They exist, are a unique person, and are over a certain age. Ideally, it could be set up in a way that cannot easily correlate them between company databases.

That said, no real need to poke holes in the idea, because…that was the easy part, and it will probably never happen (or be far more draconian than I describe)

I’ve been saying for a while that the best thing that can happen to standard, microtransaction-free, singleplayer video games is: An increase in the US Minimum Wage.

Sadly, that doesn’t help international markets as much. I really wish we could get rid of key resellers so that games sold somewhere like Africa can be fairly measured out in terms of loaves of bread, not US dollars.

In a way, I accept that. I think too many super discounts were starting to poison the industry such that indie devs with a limited audience couldn’t even make their costs back, and couldn’t raise their price because they’d compete with so much $4 slop.

(By the way, my other post highlights some great $4 slop)

Full Metal Furies is a very fun “beatemup-style” game very much focused on unique character abilities and cooperation. The writing is very funny, and each character operates very different. Currently $5.

Oh, and on the topic of coop games with primarily female casts: Assault Android Cactus is a lot of fun even for people who haven’t played games much. Rather than use a teammate reviving mechanic, players can pick themselves up - but everyone is fighting their timer to complete the mission before their batteries run out. Levels are quick and chaotic. $5.

The Sexy Brutale is a fun Groundhog Day puzzle game set in a casino where you must sneak around to prevent the staff from murdering the guests. The story seems insignificant but becomes astounding towards the end. It’s currently $5.

Unmetal is a very fun Metal Gear parody that isn’t totally lax with its writing - maintaining just enough serious tone to keep you invested and break your expectations when it uses the storytelling format to throw you for a loop. Currently $4.

Homebody is another Groundhog Day puzzle game, also about preventing your friends from being murdered - but with a very different tone. Creepy at times, and requires a slow unraveling of every one of the mansion’s puzzles. $5

Tyrion Cuthbert is an astoundingly-done indie take on the Ace Attorney format, set in a fantasy universe with its own magical rules. 5 full cases, with some big character moments in the later ones. Currently $10.

Near Death is a short horror game based on surviving arctic chill at an abandoned base at night. It feels much like an indie game version of The Martian, especially when you contact personnel that can give you tips but can’t send a rescue party. Currently $2.

I’m curious whether that new feature, Hidden games, appears in this summary. I think it had some early missteps because it would disappear from some views but appear in others.

I think highlighting the success story is kind of missing both the great circumstances Larian built that game under, and the giant mountain of singleplayer games that are pretty good, but hit no success at all.

Hello? Halo 3 sold map packs, and possibly other things I’m not remembering.

That’s setting aside that Halo 3 was an exclusive. It wasn’t made to sell itself - it was made to sell Xboxes.

I’m still a bit unsure how plausible it is to make a multiplayer game, keep it updated, and not sell content within the game.

The good devs restrict it to cosmetic options, but I can’t say I’ve moralistically stuck to that kind of perfection - I’m okay with new weapons/characters as long as they stay balanced against old ones. It becomes a sort of hazy issue.

Something a lot of people miss (and actually Far Cry 6 forgot/discarded) is most Far Cry games end with a very deconstructive and sad message towards the violence you’ve achieved through the game.

They tend to miss since people that care about writing skip these games. I’m curious what they could do with it though.

I used to only use this for game recording. But, it got a glitch where games record with a red tint ever since I upgraded my monitor. Thankfully, every single gaming helper app seems to feature recording now, so I just switched to another.

I really appreciated learning how much Immersive Sim is in Indiana Jones.

You get a hazy overhead map and need to navigate lots of hidden entrances, presented through verticality, exploring to find valuables. You can win in combat through good reflexes, but once surrounded your only option is to run. There’s no detective vision, and it instead relies on vocal barks where guards chatter or cough or sneeze often enough to remind you where they are.

The stealth isn’t fully on par, since you’re low on gadgets and darkness doesn’t seem to do a lot, but it’s there. I got the same sense of glee as Soulslike games when I take a long circuit to some door, unlock it, and it leads back to a common area, providing me a new shortcut.

Is that with Steam’s “recent off-topic activity” system turned on, or off?

Steam introduced something where if they see a large scale of reviews in a short period that express thoughts unrelated to the game itself, they exclude those reviews from the default view of the page.

Considering Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is coming to PlayStation (Bethesda, owned by MS), it’s obviously no longer Microsoft’s goal to keep to themselves.

I don’t think the “has no games” argument matters much for either console anymore. It’s now more about Japanese devs releasing on PlayStation purely out of familiarity (eg, Final Fantasy), and which monthly subscription you like more.

Considering how simple its premise is, Another Crab’s Treasure seems pretty basic, like its story doesn’t have much left, at several points. People online gave some takes that four boss fights from the end, they thought each one would be the final boss.

Far Cry 3 also did this well. You finish the skill tree, do the last few missions where the increased power slides the difficulty down…and then it turns out you unlock a whole other island to make use of your full ability tree in every encounter.

Ending B was absolutely just padding.

There’s maybe a few segments where it’s interesting to see 9S’s perspective, but so many other scenes that weren’t bot-specific.

The most painful thing will be if the game turns out to be bad, and we have to painstakingly explain “Yes, it was bad, but it’s not somehow specifically because it features a bald female lead.”

It could be in this very room! It could be NBA 2024! It could be Red Dead Redemption 2! It could even be-

That’s actually what I hope they’re fixing with the remake.

Early puzzles were clever, later puzzles just have so many parts it feels like a laborious chore to get every laser and box and replay exactly where it needs to be. I’m sorry to say I didn’t even finish the game.

Managerial bloat seems to be an issue at a lot of large companies. Only so many people are actually needed to do the thing.