Gaming thoughts, bite-size chewables - new orange flavor!

[Diabolical]

Playing the Selaco Demo right now. Available for free on Steam. Best way to describe it is F.E.A.R.'s gameplay in the GZDoom engine. Can't really comment on the story, as it's a demo and the story will be fleshed out/added for the full release (in who knows when). Plays smooth. Grahpically is going for the mid-90's feel, with modern particle effects. Think Prodeus, but not as chunky. Probably worth a look if you like FPS games.

So, I like the environments in both games (Selaco and Prodeus). The guns, the effects? Cool. The gameplay? Sure.
‘But pretty much every single retro shooter rubs me the wrong way. These do as well. And I think I finally figured out why.

The enemy design? The fake 2d sprites (ultra pixelated in Prodeus, very Rise of the Triad in Selaco) and their corresponding animations? I find almost physically repulsive.

I watch the gameplay videos and I’m thinking, yeah, I’m down with this. Good. Looking good… and ruined. And it’s every one of these retro shooters. Hell, the System Shock remake lost me too, and it’s the same thing - I can’t stand that heavy lean into retro enemy design/animations. Does it fit the aesthetic? Yep! Sure does.

Still don’t like it.

So, thanks for that, whoisit! I have learned something about myself this morning.

 

[Sulphur]

I lean the same way, but mostly on the overarching aesthetic, not just because of the enemy design. 3D FPSes in the 90s looked the way they did because of technical limitations, and they had very few ways to approximate, say, a detailed Martian base or an organic nightmare hellscape or whatever with the limited amount of power available; that's why we invariably got all those labyrinthine, abstract environments instead. Was it a creative workaround? Sure. Was it good-looking to me? Fuck no.

So while I get that nostalgia is a powerful thing, I have none for that time period because everything looked like flat-packed sectors slammed together to represent a certain kind of real-world or fictional space, and not doing it very well until Duke came out (and even then, that was mostly through creativity, not technical leaps; Tekwar used the same engine and was... ungood.)

Anyway, if you're in the mood for something somewhat better-looking yet (relatively) oldschool, like say F.E.A.R., try out the Trepang² demo. It's basically F.E.A.R, and yes, you can replicate the exact same sequence where you chuck a grenade into a bunch of armoured enemies, flick on slo-mo, shoot the grenade just before it hits someone's face, and grin as they're violently vaporised in a slowly expanding shockwave of fire, smoke, sparks, and blood sweeping across your screen.

 

[jrenz]

One of these years, I will witness the end of The Witness.

Until then, I'll boot it up, realize I forgot what any of the puzzle symbols mean, start over, get distracted by other games for months/years, boot it up, realize I forgot what any of the puzzle symbols mean, start over...

Yeah, I can't really do games where stepping away for a week or two means you're hopelessly screwed. I had a great time with The Witness on a long work trip, took a few weeks off, tried again and promptly went back to Slay the Spire, which I still just can't quit.

As to StS...well...sometimes I remember what other games were like, but the memories are getting fuzzy. Even my first grader beat Ascension 3 recently and is a multiplication whiz thanks to Hexaghost, the Birds, and the stabby elite.

 

[Chris FOM]

There’s a trailer that just released for a new Transformers movie that’s coming out which made me wonder, how are there not more terrific Transformers games? If there were ever an IP that was custom-made to transfer flawlessly to a video game Transformers has to be it. A huge number of characters with extreme variety in play styles, robot-on-robot combat, the vehicle transformations providing a unique gameplay hook, etc. It seems to obviously suited, tet somehow for good games we‘ve got the PS2 game, War for Cybertron/Fall of Cybertron, and the Platinum-developed G1-style brawler, and that’s about it. Even dismissing the idea as “lol licensed games lol” doesn’t work when we’ve got the Batman Arkham series, Spider-man PS4, Hogwarts Legacy, Star Wars (admittedly hit-or-miss given the number of games, but with some incredible highs), and plenty of others. We’re a long way from the THQ farmed out drek of yesteryear. This oughta be a chip shot.

 

[kibbler]

So... guy bought some MtG cards from a store and they accidentally gave him a pack that wasn't supposed to be sold yet. He was excited and posted about it. WotC literally sent the Pinkertons to raid him and retrieve the cards.

Oh so that's what that was.

Saw a random Reddit with caption ala screenshot from RDR6 released in year 2123 or whatever, Pinkertons arrive at Youtuber's house.

EDIT:
View: https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/130bk3e/its_a_masterpiece/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1

 

[fitten]

Started to make a thread for it but figured I'd just post it here. Modern/online officially licensed version of one of the best games ever made

 

[Nekojin]

For any who are interested, Terra Tech is free to play for the weekend. I had it on my Wishlist, so I'm giving it a try.

View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/285920/TerraTech/

 

[Mister E. Meat]

Started to make a thread for it but figured I'd just post it here. Modern/online officially licensed version of one of the best games ever made

That theme song brings back so many memories. And that game brought so many fights....

 

[cogwheel]

Best way to describe it is F.E.A.R.'s gameplay in the GZDoom engine.

I played a couple of the F.E.A.R. games a while back (think I got them as part of some bundle), and I don't remember F.E.A.R. having anything other than pretty standard FPS gameplay. They definitely had a lot of survival horror DNA in their atmosphere and story, though.

Am I missing something?

Hell, the System Shock remake lost me too, and it’s the same thing - I can’t stand that heavy lean into retro enemy design/animations. Does it fit the aesthetic? Yep! Sure does.

I can see that. For me at least, that's not a problem because System Shock had such ahead-of-its-time gameplay and structure, to the point it doesn't feel retro to me at all.

Be glad they didn't keep the original SS1 control scheme for the remake.

 

[whoisit]

I played a couple of the F.E.A.R. games a while back (think I got them as part of some bundle), and I don't remember F.E.A.R. having anything other than pretty standard FPS gameplay. They definitely had a lot of survival horror DNA in their atmosphere and story, though.

Am I missing something?

Bullet time and lots of Havok physics? It played like a John Woo movie with horror elements.

 

[Papageno]

Be glad they didn't keep the original SS1 control scheme for the remake.

No kidding. I tried to play that at some point within the last 10 years and yeah...no.

 

[grommit!]

I played a couple of the F.E.A.R. games a while back (think I got them as part of some bundle), and I don't remember F.E.A.R. having anything other than pretty standard FPS gameplay. They definitely had a lot of survival horror DNA in their atmosphere and story, though.

Am I missing something?

They had a reputation for impressive AI (even now), where enemies would flank you or take cover appropriately.

 

[Deleted member 14629]

So, GalCiv is getting a massive expansion based around updating mechanics like alien civilization generation with AI. This might be the biggest game to leverage Ai generation that I'm aware of. It's early access at the moment, but I thought it was neat. I've put it on my wishlist to see how it evolves. Heck, it might even convince me to pop open GalCiv again.


View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1357210/Galactic_Civilizations_IV_Supernova/



Review video of its current state:

View: https://youtu.be/8uxJ96rs8-g?t=90

 

[malor]

I have such a 'yuck!' reaction to Stardock now, after they screwed me by closing their online service and absolutely refusing to transfer licenses to Steam, that I don't think there's any way I'd buy that, no matter how nice it is. And that's totally ignoring Wardell's other fuckery.

oh, and their absolute refusal to do proper fullscreen in Fallen Enchantress, and their hostile and abusive reaction to people asking for such a basic feature, means I'm probably never buying another game from them for a second reason.

 

[Cesario Rose]

I played a couple of the F.E.A.R. games a while back (think I got them as part of some bundle), and I don't remember F.E.A.R. having anything other than pretty standard FPS gameplay. They definitely had a lot of survival horror DNA in their atmosphere and story, though.

Am I missing something?


I can see that. For me at least, that's not a problem because System Shock had such ahead-of-its-time gameplay and structure, to the point it doesn't feel retro to me at all.

Be glad they didn't keep the original SS1 control scheme for the remake.

First off, i'm a huge fan of F.E.A.R. I think it was one of the most satisfying FPS games of its era for its AI. Although I will admit that on the lower difficulty levels, they're push overs. You kind of have to play on hard or whatever the next level is called. But F.E.A.R's AI was one of the first ai programs to implement goal oriented action planning in AI. They work in groups to flush out the player with grenades, they swarm the player when they have the numerical advantage, and camp when they're low in numbers and/or injured. Which makes sense - if you're a baddie and looking to kill the player, and you have an advantage like numbers, you exploit that advantage. They also communicate with each other, although for the advantage of the player. A lot of the combat arenas are set up to exploit this AI advantage of flanking the player. One of the problems, imho, with FEAR is that with low and medium difficulties is that the damage the enemy deals is dialed down, and the player is given lots of health packs. Allowing the player to survive larger amounts of NPCs. On hard and extreme, the encounters start to become much harder as the damage delt to the player is higher and health packs are fewer. With that said, it can be really easy to game the NPC AI - almost all arenas can allow the player to backtrack and lore the AI into ambushes where their advantage is not as great. I'd challenge anyone who wants to play FEAR and really feel the pinch from the AI, challenge your self to play without the slow-mo or the permanent health pick ups. Check out this video for a decent overview:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaOLBOuyswI

 

[swiftdraw]

I have such a 'yuck!' reaction to Stardock now, after they screwed me by closing their online service and absolutely refusing to transfer licenses to Steam, that I don't think there's any way I'd buy that, no matter how nice it is. And that's totally ignoring Wardell's other fuckery.

oh, and their absolute refusal to do proper fullscreen in Fallen Enchantress, and their hostile and abusive reaction to people asking for such a basic feature, means I'm probably never buying another game from them for a second reason.

Yup. Which is a shame because they were a big part of my gaming time in the mid to late '00's. Gal Civ 2, Sins of a Solar Empire, and Demigod took half of my usual game rotation back then. Only thing it lacked was shooters which I filled with Unreal Tournament 2004, STALKER, and Team Fortress 2. I did re-buy Gal Civ 2 and Sins on Steam after the Stardock's launcher was announced it was being sold to GameStop and Stardock said "LOL no" to transfering, but never bothered with anything else of theirs. Gal Civ 3 fell kind of flat from what I recall and I am not sure how I fell about 4, but Sins of a Solar Empire 2 could be tempting. I think Sins is the only game from that era I still play at least monthly.

 

[Deleted member 4603]

grumble

Galactic Civilizations IV: Supernova.

Stars! Supernova...

 

[grommit!]

Digital Foundry are not holding back on the state of the Jedi Survivor PC port:

In terms of polish, performance and accessibility, this is actually far worse than Fallen Order, perhaps taking the cake as the worst triple-A PC port of 2023, despite some remarkably strong competition.

 

[Deleted member 14629]

grumble

Galactic Civilizations IV: Supernova.

Stars! Supernova...

Stars! What a throwback...

 

[Lt_Storm]

Digital Foundry are not holding back on the state of the Jedi Survivor PC port:

Yep, the game is fun, but performance isn't good... It's only playable because I don't care too much about performance.

 

[ShaggyMoose]

I returned The Witness, because solving 200 minor variations of the same puzzle was not very interesting to me.

This was the problem for me also. Since they are all variations, if you stop playing the game for a bit, you can't remember any of the rules. I got bored/frustrated after about a third of the game due to this and won't go back.

 

[Chris FOM]

So a couple years back I mentioned a largely forgotten early 00s game called Severance: Blade of Darkness. Despite the apallingly generic name it was quite a gem with multiple playable characters, an impressively deep combat system with quite a bit of variety amongst the weapons and the character playstyles (while pioneering quite a few ideas that I depend invention later came to define a lot of what we now think of as Soulsbourne games), excellent graphics for its time, and a wonderfully visceral dismemberment system. Unfortunately the developer folded and ultimately reformed as Mercury Steam and while it was published by Codemasters they lost the rights and the game just kind of vanished. Well apparently all that’s been sorted out. Blade of Darkness Remastered came out in late 2021 on PC (which did get a brief mention here), but it’s also now available on all recent consoles (PS4/5, Xbox 1/Series, and Switch). The PC release is also Windows-only officially but is in beta for Mac and Linux with those betas being playable on Steam. Seriously, give this one a shot. I’m not sure how well the heavily direction-based combat inputs will work with a controller instead of a keyboard, but I intend to find out.

 

[crazy_ebot]

Yep, the game is fun, but performance isn't good... It's only playable because I don't care too much about performance.

My Jedi Survivor thoughts, after comparing the game on a 4090+LG C1 OLED PC, versus a PSVR2 using its cinema mode:

Playing on the PSVR2 is like watching & playing, the best Star Wars experience, since watching Episode 4 at the cinemas (at the age of 4).

On PC... I requested a Steam refund.

I had the game set to it's 'Quality' (30fps) mode, and film grain turned off. Why did I turn off film grain? Because the PSVR2 lenses already introduce a slight grain effect.

Playing at 4k/30 on the LG C1 OLED (my face about 1m away from the display – I'm using it as a computer monitor), the framerate feels choppy. Nothing feels choppy, on a huge OLED 'virtual' display, set a ~2.4m away.

There is a sharpness tradeoff... but I think it still looks plenty sharp when you're stopping to look at something, and I just don't miss it in combat.

I've tried this now in Jedi Survivor, Horizon, Spiderman (1&2), Gotham Knights... The ideal config to my mind, is the 40fps/120Hz mode, but when that isn't available, 30fps still looks great.

I loved playing Jedi:Fallen Order on PC @4k/120hz, but besides missing mods that let me play (and sound) like the Mandalorian, I think playing on PSVR2's cinema mode is now my 'preferred play platform' ™.

Incidentally, the game Devs have done the smartest thing I've seen since 'turn off QTEs' in terms of accessibility: an adjustable combat speed slider.

I've set mine to 80%. Whenever I enter combat now, I feel like a jedi-effing-master: I have the time to both duck/weave/block/parry, and appreciate the excellent animations/combat encounters.

One last thing. On PC, at 4k with a high framerate, even ignoring the inconsistent frame-pacing/stuttering... the image was 'too sharp': Everything was identifiable as an art assert first, and a piece of worldbuilding second.

 

[Diabolical]

But Lucy promised THIS brand new release would be optimized!

I'll be picking up Jedi Survivor, I enjoyed Fallen Order WAAAAY to much to skip the sequel. And yeah, I'll be playing on PC.
But I was already planning on waiting for at least the first couple of weeks, let patches and video card updates hit first. It's a single player game, there is no rush.

Right now, I'm thinking I'll come back to it after Tears of the Kingdom.

 

[Drizzt321]

First off, i'm a huge fan of F.E.A.R. I think it was one of the most satisfying FPS games of its era for its AI. Although I will admit that on the lower difficulty levels, they're push overs. You kind of have to play on hard or whatever the next level is called. But F.E.A.R's AI was one of the first ai programs to implement goal oriented action planning in AI. They work in groups to flush out the player with grenades, they swarm the player when they have the numerical advantage, and camp when they're low in numbers and/or injured. Which makes sense - if you're a baddie and looking to kill the player, and you have an advantage like numbers, you exploit that advantage. They also communicate with each other, although for the advantage of the player. A lot of the combat arenas are set up to exploit this AI advantage of flanking the player. One of the problems, imho, with FEAR is that with low and medium difficulties is that the damage the enemy deals is dialed down, and the player is given lots of health packs. Allowing the player to survive larger amounts of NPCs. On hard and extreme, the encounters start to become much harder as the damage delt to the player is higher and health packs are fewer. With that said, it can be really easy to game the NPC AI - almost all arenas can allow the player to backtrack and lore the AI into ambushes where their advantage is not as great. I'd challenge anyone who wants to play FEAR and really feel the pinch from the AI, challenge your self to play without the slow-mo or the permanent health pick ups. Check out this video for a decent overview:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaOLBOuyswI

I wonder how long before we'll get games, RTS/4X/Tactical style that starts including learning AI, so you can have it start learning from your own play style to either co-op with them, or make it harder so you can't have just one style, or so it can update via cloud services syncing.

Or more likely, "play against the best" charge more money. Hopefully they'll give a fair portion of that back to those players who they allow people to AI versus.

 

[Deleted member 4603]

I wonder how long before we'll get games, RTS/4X/Tactical style that starts including learning AI, so you can have it start learning from your own play style to either co-op with them, or make it harder so you can't have just one style, or so it can update via cloud services syncing.

Or more likely, "play against the best" charge more money. Hopefully they'll give a fair portion of that back to those players who they allow people to AI versus.

How about a nice game of GLOBAL THERMONUCLEAR WAR?

 

[Chris FOM]

Digital Foundry are not holding back on the state of the Jedi Survivor PC port:

Not much better on the console side. Quality mode varies from 1242p at best to a low of 972p while performance mode is 864p AT BEST and bottoms out at 648p (all numbers PS5, they haven’t tested either Xbox yet). A sub-720p console game in 2023. Oh and neither mode hits its frame rate target either with quality mode apparently dropping into the teens and performance mode seeing a low of 30 FPS. And if that’s on PS5 I’m terrified for people on a Series S.

 

[Deleted member 4603]

I was watching someone stream, launch day - Olli42 I think?

Anywho, he was not having much issue that I saw. At least nothing "unplayable" - some animation glitches and stuttering here and there but again mostly playable.

Granted, he had streamer-money hardware (4080+, etc.)

It looks fixable, is mostly what I'm saying, Nothing quite so bad as, say CP2077's launch.

 

[MichaelC]

The Alien Breed Trilogy is on sale right now. These are third person isometric shooters. Kinda reminds me of Crusader: No Remorse and Crusader: No Regret.

I never finished either Crusader game. I think I liked the idea of them more than the actual gameplay. I liked the aesthetic and the music. I also liked the combat roll which at the time was a nifty feature. Still is, really, as few games include that. Alien Breed does not appear to include the roll from what I can tell.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I'm trying to de-clutter by getting rid of old consoles, so right now I'm seeing if anything on the PS3 unplayed stack is worth playing before I get rid of it.

Sadly, without nostalgia glasses I'm not feeling excited by the exclusives I've tried. Marvel Ultima Alliance played solo feels like an "OK I guess?" beat-'em-up, and Star Ocean: The Last Hope is a generic sword & sorcery JRPG with a "sci fi" (not SF) skin (swords and bows? Why?? ) and hard-to-take teen angst voice acting.

Next up is the Ico remake, but I'm not great with 3D platformers so I expect frustration.

 

[Ecmaster76]

I never finished either Crusader game. I think I liked the idea of them more than the actual gameplay. I liked the aesthetic and the music. I also liked the combat roll which at the time was a nifty feature.

I spent so long trying to get the No Remorse demo working on an old 486 back in the day.

Finally played some of it on GoG a few years ago and I know exactly what you mean

 

[Chris FOM]

I'm trying to de-clutter by getting rid of old consoles, so right now I'm seeing if anything on the PS3 unplayed stack is worth playing before I get rid of it.

Sadly, without nostalgia glasses I'm not feeling excited by the exclusives I've tried. Marvel Ultima Alliance played solo feels like an "OK I guess?" beat-'em-up, and Star Ocean: The Last Hope is a generic sword & sorcery JRPG with a "sci fi" (not SF) skin (swords and bows? Why?? ) and hard-to-take teen angst voice acting.

Next up is the Ico remake, but I'm not great with 3D platformers so I expect frustration.

Good news is Ico is pretty easy and quite short. Probably 6 hours or so for a first play through. Great game that also is smart enough not to outstay its welcome.

 

[infernal666]

I'm trying to de-clutter by getting rid of old consoles, so right now I'm seeing if anything on the PS3 unplayed stack is worth playing before I get rid of it.

Sadly, without nostalgia glasses I'm not feeling excited by the exclusives I've tried. Marvel Ultima Alliance played solo feels like an "OK I guess?" beat-'em-up, and Star Ocean: The Last Hope is a generic sword & sorcery JRPG with a "sci fi" (not SF) skin (swords and bows? Why?? ) and hard-to-take teen angst voice acting.

Next up is the Ico remake, but I'm not great with 3D platformers so I expect frustration.

The Last Hope is bar none the weakest of the Star Ocean games I've played and unless Divine Force craters in an epic fashion it will remain the weakest and most skippable game in the series.

 

[Diabolical]

I just finished off The Last Campfire. Thoughts are over in the Adventure Games thread, but yeah. It's short. It has puzzles. And sack people.

I also played the demo for GRIME, which came out a few years ago. My impressions? It's 2d platformer metroidvania. It's fine. Really. After 10 minutes I uninstalled it, and I'm giving it a solid, "eh, if it's free or REALLY cheap and I don't have any other metroidvania's to play" on the pick-up-possibility scale.

There are SOOOO many titles in the genre that are out already or coming soon that have just knocked my socks off within moments of starting them. It means that games like GRIME, which might be perfectly fine? Get lost in the weeds, and hidden behind the standouts. And with so many standouts? Hard to see myself coming back to this.

Up next? Either Evoland (I and II) or Cassette Beasts. I'm leaning Cassette Beasts. Because new and shiny! The demo was fun, and all the critic reviews are positive so far. Overwhelmingly Positive on steam so far too.

 

[kibbler]

I decided to add some games to the old SNES Classic and here are some thoughts on old favorites that I have not played in 2 decades, and some games I always wanted to play but didn't.

Choplifter III - Kludgy and unforgiving, pass.
Batman Returns - BEAUTIFUL and unforgiving, exactly as I remember it. The SFX of knocking 2 goons' heads together is chef's kiss
Turtles in Time - Still amazing. I can still hear the level names in my mind. "Big Apple, 3AM".
Alien 3 - Still pretty good, though sprites are worse than I remember.
Robocop vs. Terminator - I remember drooling over this in an old Gamepro. Now I'm saddened that the actual game is utter rubbish.

 

[swiftdraw]

Finally got around to trying Ex-Zodiac after having it sitting on my hard-drive for awhile, and after beating the first level my attention is ripped away by Age of Wonder 4. It’s nothing against Ex-Zodiac, it’s a very good Star Fox (SNES) type rail shooter (on the first level at least), but Strategy games are more my thing and both Taureor and Spiff have had very good things to say about AoW4. I am more in a strategy game mood anyhow after playing a ton of Satisfactory and finishing The Ascent and it’s DLC (what a beautiful, buggy mess of a game.)

… Damn, the code is unlocked by Steam isn’t doing a pre-load. Maybe I won’t be playing ApW4 today after all.

 

[Diabolical]

Regarding Cassette Beasts? It’s delightful.

For one, it’s a Pokemon-like that features adult characters. Not that they swear or fuck or anything (yet?), but at least the protagonist and friends aren’t 10 years old. For two? The monster interactions definitely have some very interesting quirks, and things can change in battle really fast. Apply fire to a plastic type? They turn into a poison type (plastic fumes, see?). Air damage on a fire type ‘snuffs’ them out, dropping their ranged and melee attack damage. Set up an elemental wall of water in front of your monster, then hit it with a fire attack to create 3 turns of healing mist. Because of the way combat works, you can fuse two monsters together and really start playing with gas.

The world is fairly open, albeit not too large. There are 120 monsters total. You have a buddy that travels around with you that you control, so every battle is a dual-‘Mon battle. Wild monsters, humans who have their own Sony Walkman monster recordings, bigger/more elite/fused monsters, environmental puzzles in a world that seems like a decent mixture of Gen 4 and Link’s Awakening. The story isn’t complicated (yet), but it is multithreaded; I have 4 or 5 distinct main quest chains at the moment? Something like that. The default enemy scaling setup for the game is that higher level baddies don’t scale down, and lower level monsters scale up but only slightly (or very slowly, not sure yet). But that is adjustable. As is the enemy AI.

Four hours in, and I am having an absolute blast. No idea how long it is. But honestly? For under $20, this is a Pokémon like that is pretty damn well made and manages to hit then ‘gotta-catch-em-all’ center of the brain pretty hard.

 

[Deleted member 4603]

Picked up Exogate: Initiative.

It's Stargate. You've built a Stargate and are randomly dialing Chevrons to explore distant unknown worlds, and immediately start an intergalactic / interdimensional war with the first species of violent flying robot squids you come across. For profit.

I dunno about replayability yet, but I am having a blast so far. People liken it to XCOM, but the combat is WAY more cheeseball, heck I'm not even to the point of being able to field security units and such yet so not even sure what that looks like. Thus far, all "combat" has been choose-your-own-adventure style selections beneath the worried face of your field agent facetiming in.

The humor is fantastic.

 

[Elore]

The Last Hope is bar none the weakest of the Star Ocean games I've played and unless Divine Force craters in an epic fashion it will remain the weakest and most skippable game in the series.

Divine Force is alright, certainly in comparison to SO4. Feels like a PS2 game in many ways, which is both good and bad depending on your preferences.

 

[Diabolical]

Picked up Exogate: Initiative.

It's Stargate. You've built a Stargate and are randomly dialing Chevrons to explore distant unknown worlds, and immediately start an intergalactic / interdimensional war with the first species of violent flying robot squids you come across. For profit.

I dunno about replayability yet, but I am having a blast so far. People liken it to XCOM, but the combat is WAY more cheeseball, heck I'm not even to the point of being able to field security units and such yet so not even sure what that looks like. Thus far, all "combat" has been choose-your-own-adventure style selections beneath the worried face of your field agent facetiming in.

The humor is fantastic.

I was intrigued.
‘Went to the Steam page. Released on 18 April ‘23. Into Early Access.
Aaaaand walking away. Ah well. It takes something pretty damn special to pull me in during early access. This? Doesn’t make the ‘pretty damn special’ cut. Not many things do. Darkest Dungeon 2 and Hades were the last Early Access titles I bought into.