So I picked up a couple of suggested ones since making this post and have given them all about an hour or two of play.

Mechanicus is the absolute tits. Love my squad of weird little tech priests that I’ve started naming Rush references. I’ll probably grab Chaos Gate: Daemonhunters when I finish, for a different take on “XCOM 40k”.

Inquisitor - Martyr: Diablo-style 40k is great so far, even if it could explain some things in-game better. I started with a tech-priest here too, I think the AdMech are my favorite dudes in this universe. But then I found out tech priest skips Martyr and goes straight into Prophecy, apparently? So I rolled up a Sister of Battle to go through the original campaign first.

Boltgun: One review tagline I saw called it the best 1994 shooter in 2023, and that’s pretty much accurate. Good soundtrack on this one too. It’s as nostalgic as playing Doom 2, yet buttery smooth.

Space Marine 1 is the one I’ve played least so far. It seems very solid, I’ll probably be more excited about it when I get a chainsword to replace this big weird knife. I might need to get a helmet mod, it’s killing me to see this dude running around in full armor with his meat head exposed.

Thanks, I had no idea there were such a nice collection of action/shooters. Looks like I had good timing asking this, a bunch of them are on sale.

Are Space Marine 1/2 a continuous story?

Abelard, read this poster the title of the thread.

:P

Warhammer 40k: Rogue Trader. If you liked Owlcat’s other RPGs, definitely give this one a try. It’s strictly turn-based, more like their Pathfinder game had a baby with XCOM, but it feels faster than playing Wrath of the Righteous in turn-based. Story is pretty engaging so far, even though I went in knowing very little about Warhammer. Loving some of the characters, which I feel is always one of Owlcat’s strong suits.

I just started Cubivore. It’s fascinatingly weird, deceptively simple at first, but I feel like there’s some complexity growing beneath the surface.

You start as a weird little cubic pig, and you have this one square flap coming off the cube on a hinge that helps you move around, and a mouth. So you go around eating everything smaller than you. And the things your size you can take, you rip their meat flaps off (phrasing) and eat them to mutate. When you kill a boss, you get better meat that unlocks big abilities, and your pig gets to mate and die. Then you start playing as pig’s offspring, who now has an extra flap and more ways to mutate which put those flaps in configurations that make you better at running, evading, fighting, or defense.

Also your pig does a lot of oddly philosophical ruminating between areas.

I’ve been doing both!

I never tried that one, but I also had a recent late-to-the-party “gaming as exercise” discovery: Beat Saber! I never gelled with rhythm games before I got a VR headset, but I’m really digging it, and it totally gets me sweating after a while.

Owlcat Games - they made two Pathfinder games, Kingmaker and Wrath of the Righteous, some of my favorite CRPGs in recent memory. Their latest, Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader, is supposed to be great as well, but I haven’t had the time to do more than check out the character creation so far.

I played the intro campaign of Wildermyth, and not only is it great as the “fantasy XCOM” I was hoping for, but if you’re the type of person to headcanon little stories and relationships between your party in a tactics game, this game is for you.

I don’t know if this is good or bad, but it is a reminder to go download all my GOG offline installers, just in case.

Buckle up, mate.

Ooh, Wildermyth looks pretty tempting too…

I haven’t bought anything yet, but I’ve been compiling a short list of mostly DRPG games like the old Might and Magics that I’ve been playing, specifically ones that’ll work on the Deck nicely. It’s a genre I loved when I was younger that’s been rather missing from my modern collection.

• Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord

and/or

• Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls
• Legends of Amberland II
• Operencia: The Stolen Sun
• Songs of Conquest (not a DRPG, but a great-looking spiritual successor to Heroes of Might and Magic 3.)

And then on GoG, I might pick up a few real old ones, like Lands of Lore and/or Wizards & Warriors, but I don’t think those will be good for steam deck even through Heroic.

Oh, and GOG has both Grimrock games for a pittance right now. That miiiight be my whole weekend now.

Ooh, I’m really digging the art style on Grimrock. It’s very reminiscent of the weird-looking old games, but so charming and slick about it.

Weepstone also looks fantastic, like playing an AD&D sourcebook. Will definitely be trying that demo this weekend.

Aren’t you glad you put money in Kushner’s pocket for this wonderful experience?

Fuck EA.