Factor-iffic

The recent Steam Holiday Sale proved to be a fruitful endeavor--I ventured into the ocean depths in the two Subnautica games and had a grand time.  Then, I decided that I was enjoying the open world ventures so I gave my wishlist a gander.  There was one game with "overwhelmingly positive" reviews but that sat in a genre that I'm not very familiar with--the factory management/building genre.  That game, Satisfactory, has managed to simultaneously frustrate and enthrall me.  I haven't totally completed it (in fact, I'm getting the impression that I'm far from that), but with my playtime, I have a good sense of it, so I'm offering up my review with that caveat.

What is it?

An open world, first-person factory management/building game.  You play a nameless, faceless "builder" character who is plopped onto a random alien planet and are given a checklist of items needed for a mysterious crisis facing humanity.  Your job is to explore the planet to find the resources needed to build the items and to cobble together the machinery necessary to produce an increasingly complicated array of items.

How much playtime/replayability can you expect?

This number greatly depends on a variety of factors--if you have the skills to build an efficient monster factory, I'm sure you could plow through the various objectives much, much faster than I am.  I think even with those leet skills you're probably looking at a lot of playtime (100 hours or more.  This is my completely baseless estimation).  If you're totally incompetent (like me), much, much more.  My factory is neither efficient or aesthetically pleasing (but this isn't a problem...which I'll explain in my pros/cons).  You're getting plenty of bang for your buck, that's the big takeaway here.

A scenic view of my space elevator.

Pros:

+Looks great, runs great.  My poor, poor ancient PC (it's 5+ years old now) has managed to run it with basically no problems.  The graphics are nice (yes, my GPU takes a little while to load up all the textures and what not, but it gets done) and there are a variety of settings that can be tweaked.  Even if you're on an older machine, like me, you can still run it.

+ Frequent autosaving.  This is a great feature--especially if you're prone to doing really dumb things like accidentally driving off the side of the map into the great unknown (and being unable to retrieve either your items or your vehicle).

+ Flexible game mechanics that aren't punishing.  Once you've gathered materials to build the various machines/vehicles/factory infrastructure you can easily alter things with no penalty.  With one click you can tear something down and have ALL the materials refunded.  In fact, this is one of the almost necessary abilities as you are constantly trying to streamline and change production.

+ It's challenging.  Ultimately your goal is to make the most efficient factory that you can--to be pumping out the needed items at the fastest pace.  Actually getting to that point is a challenge for players of all skill levels.  I'm an absolute rookie and my main goal is just to produce the items needed...efficiency is not at peak.  This is a bit of a mixed bag--in general, achieving the production goals for the needed items takes longer than it would if my factory was set up better.  The upside of my slow production means I can spend time doing other activities like exploring the planet to find resources or gathering materials for research projects that unlock new items.  Either way, it's fun.

+ Big, beautiful world to explore.  The map is HUGE!  Certain areas are difficult to reach (and seemingly gated until I do some research/unlock some better items) and there's always somewhere new to go.  One feature I love is the fact that you can add customized markers to the map yourself (and you can add up to 250!).  Each marker can include a description, a stamp/symbol of choice, and a customizable color.  I'm mostly using this feature to mark out resource nodes and wreckage (you can discover crashed ships scattered around the planet.  These ships contain various factory resources as well as the coveted hard drives that can be researched to unlock new recipes for certain items).

+ Customizable character.  Yes, it's first-person so you can't see your character (except for when you die...then you get to witness the tragedy of your sad rag doll tumbling to its demise), but you can make them unique with different helmet designs and color palettes for your clothing.  There's also some silly "charms" that can be attached to certain items.  It's fun.

+ Figuring things out is the best part.  There's definitely an aspect of problem solving that is well...very satisfactory.  It feels good to get everything working or to make things slightly more efficient.  (*here's where I would say that ideally, I think it's best to avoid guides/videos--unless you're totally stuck.  There are tons of videos from people who make these big, mega-factories...but personally, I just want to figure things out on my own--it doesn't matter that my production is sluggishly slow.  However...you do you and play how it makes you happy).

A lizard doggo friend (in holiday attire).

+ You can pet the doggos!  Well, they're actually lizard doggos, but you can tame and pet them!  They'll occasionally bring you random items.  The downside--they disappear easily (if you leave to explore or log out).  There are always more doggos out there to find though.

+ Research projects to unlock new/improved items.  These projects involve gathering certain materials and are one way that you can spend your time while you are producing main mission items.  As you progress through the tree the items get more complicated and require numerous (or complicated) parts.

+ Co-op play.  You can build with a friend (or maybe multiple friends).

+ My favorite feature so far has been the truck stations.  Once you've unlocked the technology you can build vehicles and stations that allow you to autonomously move goods between your various factory areas (needed resources are scattered all over the place--linking them all together is one part of figuring things out).  I was a bit blown away when I was able to program a route into my cute lil' tractor and then watch it (mostly) seamlessly navigate the route and haul items back and forth.  As a child of the 1980's whose computing experiences include being excited about a midi-keyboard that could make speech-like noises, I found this to be weirdly impressive.  How far we've come!

+ A fun, snarky AI that guides you.  Who doesn't love a somewhat hostile robot guide?

+ Mysterious alien stuff that seems to be gradually explained as you discover certain alien items.  It's intriguing and a bit creepy. (CONSUME)

+ A photo mode with plenty of options for snapping pics.

Cons:

- If you're someone who's hoping for some ultra-realistic kind of experience...there are aspects of non-realism that might bug you.  For example--you can build foundation items basically anywhere (like in midair) and can utilize these items in ways that are definitely not based in physical reality.  You can clip conveyor belts and power wires through items (although it is picky if you try to clip them through other items).  It's a minor thing for me, but I know there are people out there who want that realism.

- Having things go wrong can be frustrating--and things will go wrong at some point.  I struggled to set up fuel power despite looking up information about how many/how much prerequisite materials were needed.  I eventually figured it out, but holy cow did it take awhile.  Then, eventually I ran into problems again when my generator was consuming more fuel than I could produce (helpful tip: build a fluid buffer first and let your generator fill completely up with fuel before you start it).  I had to completely shut down production while I problem solved the issue (something that took awhile).  The joy is in figuring it out though.

- You've gotta do the ol' corpse run when you die.  This is especially annoying if you die in a particularly hard to reach or hazardous area.  I stupidly died in a cave filled with gas (I had not discovered the gas mask research yet) and spent an annoying amount of time (*which, honestly I should have just re-loaded) trying to recover enough health to run in and grab my death chest (with all my items) and get out.  Luckily, you are not penalized for dying and don't lose items.

- There are some bugs (but not many).  The main one that I ran into was losing my vehicle when I parked it in the aforementioned death/gas cave.  Apparently this is a known issue and you should not park vehicles in caves/tunnels--they have a tendency to disappear through the map.  Annoyingly, their symbol will still show up on your map.

Recommendation:

I'm new to the this whole factory management genre, but Satisfactory has been absolutely great.  The gameplay is very forgiving and challenges you in fun ways.  Even if your factory feels like an absolute disaster you'll still have a good time.  Features like co-op play make it attractive to those who want something chill, but fun to play with a friend/significant other.  I'd highly recommend Satisfactory (and at full price--it's worth it).

2024 Gaming Year in Review

I'm a few days late to the typical end of the year reflection posts, but I figured I'd post my Steam Year in Review and do some reflecting/looking forward to 2025 in gaming.  I have sort of a love/hate relationship with the end of the year summation posts/features.  My Spotify Wrapped actually turned out to be semi-normal this year despite the fact that quite a bit of my use is to put on lo-fi/instrumental background music in my classroom.  I know that many parents typically gripe that their Spotify Wrapped is not a good reflection because their kids like to listen to Disney songs on loop.  No one else uses my Steam account, so it's a true reflection of what I played.  Here's the link: Elore_07's Year in Review.

My #1 was a tie between the amazing Against the Storm (a strategy game with some new/intriguing gameplay features that make it different than your 4X or RTS games--you can read my full review here) and my personal favorite silly management game Two Point Hospital.  I generally lean toward RPG's so this was a departure from my general preferences.  I guess I just like managing things.

Unsurprisingly, I was below the average of 15% playtime in "new" titles.  Yeah, I just don't play a ton of "new" games--that's doubly true of triple A's.  I just don't feel like shelling out $70 to play the latest and greatest--if I do truly want to play a new title, I'll wait a few months until the bugs/issues get ironed out and it eventually goes on sale.  This is apparently a bit of a trend--the New York Times wrote an article (you can watch the video here) about how uber-graphics is turning into an expensive and unsustainable aspect of gaming.  I think most gamers just can't afford all the latest and greatest and that gaming (if your goal is to play the newest titles) is an expensive hobby.  Even if you're on console, which is arguably cheaper (*let me stress arguably) than PC gaming, you're going to need a newer console that will probably run you over $500 (plus the cost of games, controllers, etc.).  As my titles show, I (and I think many other gamers) would prefer to re-play the games I enjoy.  I added the "Phantom Liberty" DLC to Cyberpunk 2077 and spent time re-experiencing/experiencing it; I decided to revisit Fallout 4 (because have I really seen everything it has to offer?); I re-played the Ori games because it had been a minute.  Generally, if I am going to buy something "new" it's more likely to be an indie like Balatro.  I would agree with the New York Times reporter--I'd rather a game be enjoyable and something that I want to play than it have the most amazing graphics.

Looking Forward to 2025

There's also plenty in gaming to be looking forward to.  The biggest hubbub in gaming seems to be around the 2025 release of Grand Theft Auto VI.  I'm a GTA fan and have played every game since the PlayStation original (which I only slightly played on my brothers PS).  I don't think PC gamers have much to look forward to on the GTA front--Rockstar has said nothing about a PC version at release and their typical pattern is to release on consoles first and then eventually release a PC version.  I think we could be in for the long haul on that front.  I'll do my best to avoid spoilers and hope that it's not a 5 or 6 year wait.

I was pleasantly surprised by the release of The Witcher IV trailer last month--it sort of seemed to come out of the blue--all I had seen prior to it were vague articles about how it was in full production.  There's a 2025 date at the end of the video, but I don't have high hopes there either.  CD Projekt has a history of delaying full releases (*I mean...most of the time, when they should, with the glaring exception of Cyberpunk) and making a credible effort at releasing games in a mostly good state.  So, I don't expect to see it next year either.  There's already been some typical online grousing about the fact that Ciri is the protagonist in the upcoming game.  It makes me l-o-l a bit because when The Witcher 3 ended there seemed to be a lot of players stating that they thought the next game should feature Ciri.  Sure, there are some legitimate lore/story road bumps to navigate, but her being the next protagonist feels like a good choice to me.  We've had three games of Geralt, so it's time for something new (it seems like a lot of games do three games and then switch main characters) and Ciri's abilities and story offers up the chance to give it a bit of new life.  I do expect to see CD Projekt sprinkling out more gameplay/trailer tidbits throughout the year to keep us interested.

On the hardware front, the 5000 series cards from NVIDIA will undoubtedly drop at some point.  Personally, I'm not in the market for a graphics card that will likely cost well over $1k at the low end and $2k on the high.  I'm curious at whether the prices of 4000 series cards will drop though.  I've been slightly thinking about a new build and it would be nice to see lower GPU prices (and, I'm mildly contemplating an AMD card--I ran nothing but AMD GPU's prior to my current NVIDIA GPU and had a mostly good experience.  I also think ray tracing is a bit overrated and not worth the cost/hype.  Plus, it seems like higher VRAM is becoming more important and NVIDIA GPU's are a bit lacking in that department).

One game I am hyped for is Two Point Museum.  The Two Point games are a personal favorite of mine and I love the relaxing, silly, but fun to play vibes.  There's a March release date and I'm very much looking forward to having it be the top game on my 2025 Year in Review.

Happy New Year to my fellow gamers!  I hope you find something you love to play in 2025 whether that's an indie or a fancy schmancy triple A title.

Frozen Wonderland

After having a grand ol' time playing Subnautica and with the convenient timing of Steam's Holiday Sale, I decided to continue my underwater adventures with Subnautica: Below Zero.  The player reviews for Below Zero weren't as glowingly positive as those for the original game, but I decided to judge for myself.  Since I'm on my holiday break, I've had plenty of time to play and I just finished up a full playthrough.

What is it?

The follow up to the excellent first game, Subnautica.  It takes place on the same planet, so there are some recognizable elements, but it's in the frozen, polar zone.  Much of the gameplay is identical to the first game with a few minor changes.

How much gameplay can you expect?

On many of the player reviews there were mentions of the shorter length (and some people saying that it felt more like a DLC than a full, separate title).  I finished a full playthrough in ~30 hours where my full Subnautica playthrough clocked in at about 53.  Playtime is highly dependent on your personal play style--if you want to meticulously craft the perfect underwater lair, you could definitely spend a good chunk of time gathering materials and cobbling base elements together.  On the other hand, if you just focus on the story elements, you could probably easily finish it in less than 20.  There's some replayability built in--maybe slightly more so than the first game.

Pros:

+ If you played Subnautica the gameplay elements are immediately recognizable.  There are some minor changes to certain crafting recipes (you're in different biomes, so some elements have been swapped out) but for the most part it's the same.  This is nice because it means there's no mix up of controls and you don't enter the game feeling like you have to relearn things.  Probably the biggest change is the introduction of an additional survival element--temperature.  Since you're in the polar region of the planet the above water temperatures and weather are hazardous.  When you're exploring on land (which you will do) you have to keep an eye on your body temperature and plan ahead to carry (or craft items) that can help counter the cold.

+ The story is more fleshed out and is voice acted by none other than Kimberly T. Brooks of Mass Effect fame (I immediately recognized the voice of Ashley Williams).  It's nice to have an outline of your goals.  I noticed that several reviews mentioned that they didn't like that your character is voiced and felt like it ruins the immersion.  Okay then.  That was not my experience and I enjoyed having more narration.  There are two different story elements that play out and I felt like the characters and voice acting helped give it more life than in the first game.

+ Gorgeous new biomes to explore.  I think the highlight of the Subnautica games is how well they create a unique and beautiful variety of areas to explore.  There are new flora and fauna to scan and plenty of new predators to avoid.  My personal favorite is the vent biome with the colorful tree-like corals and the giant vent jellies.

A not-so-great shot of my Seatruck.

+ The adaptable Seatruck.  In Subnautica you had the choice of the Seamoth (a small, very maneuverable craft that couldn't reach the deepest depths) or the Cyclops (a hulking, slow submarine that could carry your Prawn Suit).  To reach the deepest parts of the map it was necessary to utilize the extremely un-fun Cyclops.  In Below Zero you get one craft that you can add modules to--the Seatruck can be exactly what you want it to be (which depends on you discovering and scanning all the modules).  If you just want to zip around in the truck itself, you can do that.  If you want to turn your Seatruck into a floating base, you can attach all the modules (and have a Cyclops-like experience).  The Seatruck is a huge improvement over the Cyclops.

+ Three different gameplay modes.  The default mode is survival (you have to eat, drink, and monitor your health and temperature elements) but if you just want to hang out and craft a cool base you could opt for the creative mode (survival elements are turned off).  If you're feeling up for an extra challenge you could opt for the hardcore survival mode where you only get one life.  It's nice to have this variety to accommodate different kinds of players.

+ Goofy cosmetic elements to personalize your base.  You can grab these from several of the ruined bases scattered around the map and they give your rather sterile base a bit of personality.  The mock corporate motivational posters are funny, but I like the more personal pieces tied to the story of your sister (one of the main story elements).

+ Maps!  It's not quite a full map, but you can find a couple of different maps that are very helpful in giving you a general overview of where to find things.  I'm sure that people will gripe that it's another thing that detracts from the more survival oriented first game, but just having the general frame of where to look for things was so helpful.

+ Some new items that help make gameplay slightly easier.  The quantum locker is one of my favorites--it allows you to craft lockers that share storage between locations.  There's also an option for a teleportation module for your Seatruck (which is a bit of a mixed bag).

Cons:

- It is shorter than Subnautica, but I don't feel like reviews that say it feels like a DLC are accurate.  Sure, the gameplay is basically identical, but there are new storylines and other new elements that help it feel different from the original.  I didn't feel like the length was egregiously short--you're still probably looking at over 20 hours of gameplay.

- Two separate storylines.  Initially you're presented with the main storyline about your character investigating the mysterious death of her sister.  I'm not going to spoil it, but after discovering an interesting alien artifact the story gets very invested in the alien side of things and your sister becomes a bit of a side note.  There's not a great resolution to the sister storyline and you get a bit of a general idea about what happened from discovering PDA's.  I guess I'd say it's not very handholdy in that sense--you've sort of got to figure it out on your own.  It just felt weird to make the death of your sister feel like the main focus and then sort of push it aside.

- The Seatruck is highly adaptable, but some of the modules feel very superfluous.  Why even add a sleeper module when your character doesn't need to sleep?  And yes, you can choose which modules you want to craft and utilize.  The downside of adding modules is that the Seatruck becomes slower and more unwieldy as you add them (makes sense).  Basically there are like 2-3 modules that you probably want to use (fabrication, storage, and docking).  I also found it kind of annoying that if you click in the wrong place you would wind up disconnecting the modules--they're easy to re-attach, but I wish that there was a click and hold or something to make it harder to accidentally disconnect them.

- Some very optional gameplay elements.  Part of the story involves your character exploring aboveground areas and having to navigate the freezing temperatures.  Dying from hypothermia is a real threat...that is, until you get the Prawn Suit--then, you can just tromp your way around with no concern.  There are multiple items that can be crafted specifically to help your character survive the freezing climate, but there's little reason to utilize them.  Part of me felt like I was missing out by not crafting these items, but part of my was like "why?"  Why waste time gathering materials to craft three different suit items, a vehicle, and another vehicle docking pad when I can just pop into the Prawn?  I sort of wish that they'd have made it so you can't use the Prawn on land.

Recommendation:

If you liked Subnautica, you'll like Below Zero. I enjoyed the more story-focused elements and slightly more accommodating gameplay.  It's not as big as the original game, but its shorter length doesn't mean that it's not worth playing.  I'd definitely buy it on sale (and, you can get a bundle with both games!).

Exploring the Depths in Subnautica

Sometimes you just have to look over your pile of shame and reflect on your choices.  I’ve purchased numerous games that I’ve thought sounded like something I’d be interested in only to find out that they’re an absolute miss.  For example, Civilization VI  is a very beloved title among some gamers, but I have found that I dislike 4X games.  They’re not bad–they’re just not my proverbial cup o’ tea.  Upon completing a re-play of DOOM (would recommend the demon smashing madness to any teachers trying to make it through the pre-holiday break weeks), I was browsing my library to find my next adventure.  I’ve been on a bit of a mission to re-play or just play titles from the pile of shame.  One title caught my eye–Subnautica.  I bought it back in 2016, played it for about 4 hours and then decided that it wasn’t for me.  I decided it was time to give it another go and actually found myself enjoying it (...and also not enjoying it at points).

What is it?

An open-world survival game based in a mostly underwater environment.  The basic premise of the story is that you’ve survived the crash landing of your ship and now have 1.) survive, 2.) find out if there are other survivors, and then 3.) discover the mysteries of the planet (not going to spoil it).

How much playtime can you expect?

This number could greatly vary.  If you’re invested in the more creative elements of the game (base building) you could invest many hours.  On the other hand, if you’re just wanting to stick to the main “story” elements you could probably finish it in ~15 hours.  As to replayability, once you’ve experienced the main story beats it kind of kills the replayability.

Pros:

+ The underwater setting helps provide some novel survival elements and unique exploration.  Besides keeping an eye on the normal food/water aspect you also have to make sure to watch the oxygen gauge.  The highlight of the game is definitely the variety of different underwater biomes–they vary from the giant coral tubes of the shallows to the deep volcanic zones of the endgame.  It’s highly enjoyable to find and experience a new biome.

+ Survival is the main focus, but there’s also several storylines to uncover.  You periodically receive distress calls and radio signals from other escape pods and can spend time locating them.  There’s also a hidden story tied to the planet itself that involves mysterious alien structures.

+ Exploration is the best part of the game.  There are new species of life to discover and scan in each new biome.  There’s also the promise of new, fancier minerals and other elements that can be used to craft increasingly more complicated items.  Many blueprints must be discovered, so it’s vital to find and scan wreckage scattered across the world.

+ Crafting and gathering isn’t too onerous and even endgame items generally don’t take a long time to create.  (*mostly).  There are several underwater craft that can be created as well as base building elements that offer up the ability to build an amazing underwater lair.  If building bases is your thing, there are no limits to the number of bases you can build.

+ Multiple game modes for different types of players.  If you just want to explore and build, there’s a creative mode that turns off the survival elements.  The default mode is survival mode where players must eat, drink, and try not to take too much damage.  If you do die, you’ll respawn at the closest base (or large craft, once you build it).  You lose some items, but they can be recovered (if you can find them).  Avoiding dying is fairly easy (although I will say that it’s easy to get distracted by exploration and lose track of your oxygen meter–especially early in the game when you only have a small tank) but you do take damage from certain aggressive creatures and environmental causes (like heat from volcanic vents).

Cons:

- No map.  Yes, it’s an exploration based game and the entire point is trying to find things scattered around the world.  However, I found the lack of map to be irritating.  I’m not saying that I want everything uncovered, but it would be nice to have a map that uncovers as you explore.  Especially as a new player, I didn’t understand that you basically need to be dropping beacons to mark anything you want to find again as your chances of finding something again are small (they’re cheap to craft, so it’s easy to do).  Just drop beacons anywhere you think you’re going to need to return to.  Even with dropping beacons I still had difficulties returning to some of the deeper zones in the late game.

Descriptions on where to find things are fairly vague–something like “1000m SW of this place”.  I found myself looking things up way more than I would’ve liked.  I’ve seen many comments from people saying “well, it’s an exploration game, what do you expect?”  Fair I guess, but I do not find it enjoyable to be fruitlessly searching for something for hours.

- Piloting the largest vessel is a chore.  Yes, it’s basically a floating base, but it’s slow, bulky, and difficult to navigate through some of the tighter areas.  I managed to get it stuck at several points and had to re-load.  You don’t absolutely need to use it, but without some of the key upgrades to the more agile vehicles it is a bit of a necessity at the deeper depths.

- Some players have described the game as “scary.”  I didn’t find it that way, but I suppose some of the sound effects from the aggressive creatures could freak some people out.  There are aggressive creatures that will attack you and your ship, they are threatening and it’s best to steer clear of them.

Recommendation:

Besides the annoyance at the lack of map and my own poor understanding of utilizing beacons, I ended up mostly enjoying Subnautica.  The exploration is enjoyable and there’s a lot of possibility for creativity in building up a mega-underwater base.  Don’t be surprised if you find yourself doing a bit of searching to discover elements of gameplay that aren’t well logged/explained.  I’m someone who tends to struggle with open-ended games that don’t have a clearly defined storyline, but found myself engrossed in exploration, building, and discovery.  Overall, Subnautica is worth your time and money despite a few shortcomings.

Big News in Witcher World!

Last night I logged onto the ol' socials to do some scrolling and got a pleasant surprise--one of the first things that popped up was the brand new trailer for the upcoming Witcher title!  As someone who is a huge Witcher fan, this is something I wasn't anticipating for quite awhile.  The next game in the series will be titled The Witcher IV (kind of uninspired, but continues the progression) and it seems that Ciri is the protagonist.  If you haven't had the chance to take a gander at it yet, here it is in all it's sparkly glory:

I'm sure in the coming days we'll get a bajillion analysis videos of people trying to pick apart every tiny detail.  It's inevitable, so why not simply join the fray?

I completely expect there to be an entire discourse about Ciri being a witcher for a couple of reasons.  Firstly, Ciri never underwent the full mutations to become a witcher.  Geralt and company didn't want to put her through that torture.  This doesn't mean that she's not capable of fighting off monsters, after all she trained with witchers AND she is gifted with extremely powerful magical abilities.  Curiously, her powerful abilities do not feature at all in this trailer.  Anyone who played The Witcher 3 knows that one of her best abilities is blinking as a form of dodging.  As the Lady of Time and Space, Ciri might not need those witcher mutations to be a top notch monster slayer.  I'm betting that people will also call out the fact that Ciri gulps down a witcher potion in the trailer--something that she likely shouldn't be able to do per the lore of the game.

(Spoilers below about The Witcher 3 endings!)

The second discourse will likely be about the the fact that choices that led to certain endings in The Witcher 3 seem not to matter--Ciri becomes a witcher appears to be the canon ending.  There will probably be some sad panda folks griping about the fact that their choices don't matter...blah, blah.  Honestly, Ciri becoming a witcher is my favorite ending and was the one that made the most sense for a potential sequel.

(ADDENDUM: The Game Director has addressed the questions about Ciri not being a full witcher and revealed that in the fourth game she is a full witcher--she took the trial of the grasses in the time between the third and fourth game.  It makes sense given the fact that she has gone the route of being a witcher--I am curious if it will be something detailed in story.  It's also bound to stir up some controversy because the Kaer Mohren witchers stated that they didn't want to ever have to do it again [during the scene where they administer the trial to Uma/Avallach].  Ciri becoming a full witcher tracks with me--there's a moment in the "becomes a witcher" ending where Geralt implies that she'll never be as fast or as good as a real witcher since she hasn't had the mutations.  I could totally see her making the big decisions to go through with it.  We'll just have to wait and see how it ties into the story.) *My sourcing for this isn't great--it was posted on a fan page with no source listed.  It seems plausible to me though.

There are a few other details that I've seen some discussion around.  The very beginning of the trailer mentions that it's rendered with a "unreleased NVIDIA GPU," so I think folks can expect the 50 series cards to be dropping in the near future (*the folks who want to spend $2k on a GPU).  The trailer does look amazing though.

Personally, I enjoyed the fact that the same core Witcher vibes are present in this video.  You've got the scared villagers bowing to actually needing a witcher while simultaneously disliking them; you've got the whole "who's the real monster?" message hanging over the scenario--it's one of the best parts of the series.  I'm hoping that the new game keeps that core in place.

One thing that stood out to me is that Ciri is plainly older (*people will also probably complain that her VA seems to be different) and more seasoned.  Maybe part of the story will address the endings and the time between the end of The Witcher 3 and this new game?  Maybe Ciri's been honing her skills with Geralt (who, in my game, is living the good life in Corvo Bianco in Toussaint)?  Maybe she's been conquering the world with Nilfgaard (not my favorite ending)?  I'm curious about how this will be addressed.

I found the 2025 release date to be a bit surprising--it seems like next year has the potential to be a big year in gaming with the release of Grand Theft Auto VI and now The Witcher IV.  I've been thinking about building a new PC (it's getting to be that time) and maybe it's finally time.  In reality, CD Projekt games are usually delayed (*with the exception of the absolute fiasco that was the CyberPunk 2077 release--and I don't expect them to make that mistake twice) and they seem like they want to avoid a bad release.  We'll see what happens.

Overall, I'm pretty pumped about this trailer.  Lots of fans were hoping that they'd get a game with Ciri as protagonist.  I'm very interested to see where they take the lore since there aren't any more books.

Surviving the Onslaught

Even though every holiday sale makes me want to start scratching titles off my Steam wishlist, I managed to contain my purchases to just one game (and collected DLC).  The best part--all of it was under $15!  I've been mostly managing to die, but I did survive once (and it was downright magical).  Of what title do I speak?  Vampire Survivors, my friends.

What is it?

Steam uses the following tags: action roguelike, bullet hell, pixel graphics, and 2D.  Basically, you pick a character (who is maybe a vampire?), you pick a map, and you try to survive the onslaught of enemies and run out the clock.  You gain experience from picking up various crystals that drop from killed enemies.  That experience is used to gain new abilities.  Much of the gameplay is avoiding enemies, snatching up crystals, and trying to figure out the synergy between different abilities.  Basic, right?  It's anything but simple though.

How much playtime will you get?

Potentially an infinite amount.  There are a ton of unlockables that will keep you playing.  Most maps have a time limit (basically the point at which you are killed...in the rare case that you manage to make it that long) around 30 minutes.

Pros:

+ Almost infinite playtime for a low, low price.  I snagged the base game for $3.74 as part of the Steam Autumn sale.  I enjoyed it so much that I decided to grab all the DLC for an additional $10-ish.  If you're someone who doesn't have a lot of money to spend on games, it's the perfect option.

+ Deceptively simple gameplay.  The entire premise of the game is surviving as long as you can.  Actually doing that is quite challenging.  A big part of the challenge is figuring out which combination of weapons/buffs work best.  There's definitely some strategizing involved.  Each time you level up you get to choose from a list of 3-4 random options--some are offensive/weapon options and some are buffs (like speed).

+ Roguelike elements.  Each map and the progression of enemies stays the same, but drops can vary.  One of the best parts are enemies that occasionally drop treasure chests.  These chests will give you one upgrade to an ability plus a certain amount of gold.  Gold can be used to unlock new characters or purchase permanent character buffs (such as +5% speed) that apply across the board.  Basically, your character gets slightly stronger with these buffs (that you can choose to purchase...or not, if you're super leet).

The character selection screen.  There's a scroll bar, so that's only a few.

+ Tons of unlockables. Certain characters are only unlockable once you've reached specific milestones.  New maps are also unlockable (again, they require accomplishing a specific goal).  Even if you just stick with the base game, there are a lot of options.  Each character starts with a certain ability and has their own strengths (and weaknesses).  It's a lot of fun figuring out how to play each character and picking out favorites.  There's also an entire system of weapon evolution that unlocks largely through discovery and picking the correct combination of items (you could always look it up, but that spoils the fun).

+ Low requirements.  Got an older PC?  This is a perfect choice.

+ Crossover content from other games/fandoms.  I'm not very familiar with them, but the newest DLC is Castlevania themed.

+ A fun soundtrack of high energy music.

+ Controller support.

Weapon/ability unlockables.  I've barely made a dent.

+ Multiple gameplay modes.  There's the regular survival mode and then "adventure" mode (*might be a DLC feature) which lets you play a story-based mode.  Each map in adventure mode has a specific goal that has to be accomplished before the next map unlocks.  Characters, weapons, and abilities from adventure mode can then be played in the base game.

+ 4-player local co-op.  Perfect for couch play with friends.

Cons:

- Moments of feeling repetitive.  The basic premise of the gameplay is always the same--run around, avoid enemies, kill as many as you can, and try to survive.  Mostly the roguelike elements make it feel fresh, but it's the kind of game that's best if played in shorter sessions.

- Can feel frustrating.  There's definitely a learning curve for figuring out which abilities work best together and you fail a lot.  I still haven't fully figured it out.

- No tutorial or explanation about certain aspects of gameplay.  The basic premise of the game is so simple that it doesn't really need a tutorial, but I was boggled by the concept of evolving weapons and had to look it up.  (Certain weapons and abilities work together and when fully upgraded can unlock a new, more powerful form of a weapon)   There are relics located on each map but no explanation about what that means (relics are items that unlock new, helpful features of gameplay--for example, finding the map of the Milky Way will unlock a map of each level that shows where certain permanent power-ups and, more importantly, coffins--which contain new, unlockable characters but require the ability to kill off all the guardians of the coffin--are located).  Expect to be doing some Googling to figure it out.

The one time I won.

Recommendation:

Vampire Survivors is an enjoyable game that is extremely affordable.  The almost infinite replayability and low requirements mean that it's perfect for a lot of gamers.  It has moments of feeling repetitive and frustrating, but mostly it's a lot of fun.  I would recommend grabbing it (even at full price--which is only $4.99).

Smokin' Hot Deals

Enjoying the 5 billion Black Friday e-mails you've received?  I know that I've woken up to my inbox crammed full of hysterical e-mails begging me to buy something because the deals are sooo amazing (fun fact--they're really usually not that great but our little peanut brains just like buying things waaaay too much).  But I'll admit...my little peanut brain has been buying things!  And, of course, the Steam Autumn sale is here so that I can extend my purchases to the world of video games as well.  What to buy though?  Here's my advice on what to grab in the current Steam sale.

1.) Mass Effect: Legendary Edition

If you're like me, you might be somewhat opposed to purchasing remasters/remakes/basically the same game(s) twice.  Buuuut, thanks to the magic of the SALES you can grab the updated Legendary Edition for the smokin' hot price of $4.99.  For the price of a fancy coffee drink you can play one of the best sci-fi RPG's out there.  The legendary edition does have some benefits over the basic games--firstly, the first game has received a graphics update and a few minor gameplay tweaks.  It looks good for a game from 2007, but it unfortunately does still play like the original game from 2007.  Secondly, you get all the DLC (this includes special promotional content/pre-order bonuses).  Lastly, it's nice not to have to manage importing saves and having everything just carry over from game to game automatically.  There are some other fun features like a new screenshot tool that make your $4.99 worth it.

Avoid the baddies and grab those crystals.

2.) Vampire Survivors

Don't want to spend a fortune on a new game?  Well, for $3,74 you can get an oddly enjoyable game that I've found myself being really bad at, but still wanting to play.  I knew very little about the game but thanks to crossover content in Balatro and a goofy meme about games that are great and don't have uber-leet graphics, I decided to give it a try.  It's a sort of survival/roguelike/bullet hell/run around grabbing crystals for as long as you can/video game.  There are a ton of different characters to unlock and it has some mechanics that give it a ton of replayability.  

3.) Dave the Diver

I can't rave enough about Dave the Diver and would recommend it to someone who's looking for a relaxing, but fun game that doesn't require a top of the line PC to play.  It's part action adventure/exploration/roguelike/management and has a great cast of characters, story, and gameplay.  You can grab it for $13.99 and there's a lot of fun crossover content from other games that has been added in.

4.) Red Dead Redemption 2

No, I'm not recommending the recently released re-master of the original Red Dead Redemption (I am still of the opinion that it's overpriced), but would steer folks toward the amazing RDR2.  For $19.79 you can grab one of the best RPG's out there.  Us PC folks had to wait a long, long time for it to finally migrate to the PC world, so there's a chance that some people might've slept on it.  It's definitely worth your time and is one of my all-time favorites. (*Who knows when we'll actually see Grand Theft Auto VI on PC....I wouldn't anticipate it any time soon though)

5.) Cyberpunk 2077

Maybe you were turned off by the extremely bad release back in 2021 (it was a disaster) and just never pulled the trigger on it.  Thanks to years of redemptive work by CD Projekt, Cyberpunk has evolved into a fun and replayable RPG.  It's still not perfect, but I do have a special place in my heart for Night City and all its violent dysfunction.  For $26.99 you can easily spend 100+ hours tooling around as a decked out V.  (*for $46.90 you can get the base game and the "Phantom Liberty" DLC).

There are a ton of other deals out there, but those are my personal recommendations.  And, in just a few weeks the holiday sale will roll around and there will be even more deals to consider.  Happy shopping and gaming!