The Miscellaneous PC & vidya Games Thread

[Grey Fox]

You can create an entire park like space. It's weird.

The racing in this game is kicking my ass. Especially compared to FH5. I must be getting old because my son is winning races left and right. We both play on the 7th difficulty.

[Syt]

New trailer for Star Wars Zero Company

And another one for Galactic Racer

[Syt]

Ok, this looks interesting:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3204330/County_of_Fortune/

Instead of a city, you build up a medieval county.

You are a lokator – a medieval colonizer and noble steward – given a blank stretch of kingdom to turn into a living county.

• Pick the site for every settlement and set its direction – streets and grid fill in as it grows.
• Guide every village as it grows from a tiny hamlet into a sprawling town, and eventually a city
• Watch procedurally generated buildings fill out your settlements, street by street
• Link your holdings into a single seamless region, not a medley of disconnected outposts

The scale is the point. You are not zooming into a single town – you are zooming out to see a whole county come to life.

No two patches of ground play the same way.

• Resource deposits, biomes, and terrain profiles decide what each plot is good for
• Navigable rivers turn geography into logistics – place wisely and trade flows
• Climate, soil, and elevation shape which crops, industries, and products thrive
• Trade routes between settlements follow real terrain – rivers, passes, and roads, not straight lines

Where you build is as important as what you build. Plant a salt-works next to a pass and wealth follows; plant a city far from water and the county feels it.

The economy is wide, layered, and deliberate.

• Raw materials are refined into advanced goods across real production chains
• Settlements specialize based on what the surrounding land offers
• Wagons, carts, and river vessels carry goods across the county on their own
• Better-supplied settlements evolve, attracting advanced workers and unlocking new goods and buildings

You do not micromanage a single market square – you tune a regional economy and watch it breathe.

A county is more than its ledgers. Three layers of characters shape every playthrough:

• Mayors – each settlement is run by a named mayor with their own traits, skills, and flaws
• Noble Houses – every mayor belongs to a house, and rival houses weave politics across the region
• Cultures – settlers arrive from different lands, bringing customs that grant bonuses, tensions, and their own identity

Each mayor has a name, each house a banner, each culture a homeland – and the choices you make about them matter as much as the roads you pave.

County of Fortune keeps the builder at the heart of play.

• Every hour is about founding, growing, connecting, and specializing your settlements
• Every challenge comes from the land, the economy, and the people you govern
• Rival noble houses exert political and economic pressure on your decisions
• Play at your own pace – the county rewards care and long-term thinking

A medieval builder for players who came for the city-building.

The devs have previously done Nebuchadnezyar, which Ceasar III but in Mesopotamia: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1157220/Nebuchadnezzar/

However, this is coming into early access first, so not holding my breath.

Why Early Access?
"We believe that County of Fortune has a unique approach to the city-building genre, focusing on settlement development, logistics, and dynamic cultures. Early Access allows us to involve the community in shaping the final experience. Player feedback will help us refine key mechanics or even come up with new ones to ensure the game is both engaging and strategically challenging."

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?
"We expect County of Fortune to remain in Early Access for 12 to 18 months. This time frame will allow us to gather feedback, implement new features, and ensure that the game is polished before full release."

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?
"We are planning the full version of County of Fortune to feature additional content, expanded settlement and cultural systems, refined gameplay mechanics, and improved visuals for a more polished experience. Player feedback during Early Access will guide us in addressing issues and enhancing various aspects of the game, including performance and overall balance."

What is the current state of the Early Access version?
"The Early Access version of County of Fortune includes the core gameplay systems such as settlement development, basic logistics, and evolving cultural traits. Players can manage settlements, choose leaders, and experiment with the logistics system across different regions. While the foundation is solid, additional content and features are planned, and we will continue refining the game based on player feedback."

[...]

The menus look very CK3.

[Tonitrus]

Too much urban sprawl. 

[Norgy]

Where's mah inbred yokels? 

[Solmyr]

Where's mah inbred yokels? 

Sigurd Jager and Ferris Hawke look pretty inbred.

[The Brain]

Valheim coming out of Early Access September 9.

[Syt]

Randomly jumped into POE1 yesterday.

I forget which league was the last I played, but things have changed.

Collecting gold, for example. And new skills/enemies in the early Acts (got half-way through 3) I didn't see before.

Mirage content seems ... meh? Also interesting to put a Vaal crucible into the Act 2 pyramid.

Picked a random build online - cyclone duelist (though still using Sunder). I seem way OP for the early game. Also, autoexertion, plus general's cry, plus sunder is silly (you auto-shout to summon minions who do 1 sunder attack). I was lucky to get Doedre's Damning when gambling for a ring from Bestel. Pretty much takes care of my mana for now (I gain 12 for killing an enemy, plus it gives me resistances).

[viper37]

Warhammer 40k: Definitive Edition.

I grabbed it while it was on special last fall, for owners of the original.
It's the original games (Dawn of War, Winter Assault, Dark Crusade, Soulstorm)

There's been major improvements this spring.

I always had fun playing Soulstorm and various mods over the years.  You grab territories, build your base and defense, accumulate resources, conquer the enemies.

Dawn of War was the first in its genre, a RTS where you need to capture "resource points".


Company of Heroes and numerous DoW games would follow with a similar system.

So, I'm replaying the entire series.  And I forgot how hard Winter Assault was.  Well, I did remember, but not to that point.

I pass through Dawn of War on Insane.  I had to dial it back to Hard for Winter Assault. Then there's that mission when you escort the convoy through enemy territory... You can either play the Imperial Guard an cross through Chaos and Orcs who constantly attack you, or play Eldar.  One will get sacrificed eventually, when you proceed to the next mission.

Back on normal, it's insane...

One strategy I had in the past was to rush through the enemy bases and destroy everything, but it doesn't seem to work anymore...

Tried to work an alternate route, made it to the end... Forgot I had to open the last gate before I call the convoy.  Got swamped by endless wave of enemies high tier infantries and machineries, tanks.

Restart.

Go through my base.  Take time to build up.  Constantly send back units to defend my lone power supply.

Eventually, I make it, I capture the strategic point.

ah, the last gate does not open... I forgot!  I can't take the cheat and go through my base the entire time!  and I can't open the first gate if my convoy is not in front of the gate...

Restart...


this game is really pissing me off.  I'm supposed to relax playing, especially on "normal".

[Josquius]

Missing Final Liberation?
Now that's the best warhammer game. So sad it never got it's addons or any sequels.

[viper37]

Missing Final Liberation?
Now that's the best warhammer game. So sad it never got it's addons or any sequels.

Never played that one.

I really discovered the universe with Dawn of War and have been fascinated with the brutality/stupidity of it since then 

[Syt]

I'm a bit over steampunk & magic, but this premise made me chuckle a bit.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1173980/Shadow_of_the_Road/

Step into 1868 Japan, a land fiercely divided by a brutal civil war between the traditionalist forces of Shōgun Tokugawa and the technologically superior army of Emperor Mutsuhito, backed by the British East Nippon Company. Amidst this turmoil, warriors, spies, and mystical beings navigate a world where magic and machinery intertwine, the jarring contrast of tradition and technology permeating even the landscape, where weathered, ancient temples stand alongside towering steam-powered machines. Experience a country at a pivotal crossroads, torn between its cherished ancient heritage and the relentless march of modernization. Which side will emerge victorious? The fate of Japan hangs in the balance.

[celedhring]

Since it's the tenth anniversary I took X-Com2 for a spin. I didn't get to play War of the Chosen the first time around, so it seems a good opportunity to do so now, playing with the Long War mod.

The game's so great, but I don't think I'm doing a particularly hot take here. The first UFO games were some of the scariest shit I played as a young gamer, so this has always been a cherished franchise for me. I hope the Star Wars X-Com is good, but so far the trailers make it look  a bit bland.

I guess we'll get an X-Com3 at some point when people finally get tired of franchise-milking Civilization games and Firaxis needs a different cash grab.

[The Minsky Moment]

I'm a bit over steampunk & magic, but this premise made me chuckle a bit.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1173980/Shadow_of_the_Road/

Step into 1868 Japan, a land fiercely divided by a brutal civil war between the traditionalist forces of Shōgun Tokugawa and the technologically superior army of Emperor Mutsuhito, backed by the British East Nippon Company. Amidst this turmoil, warriors, spies, and mystical beings navigate a world where magic and machinery intertwine, the jarring contrast of tradition and technology permeating even the landscape, where weathered, ancient temples stand alongside towering steam-powered machines. Experience a country at a pivotal crossroads, torn between its cherished ancient heritage and the relentless march of modernization. Which side will emerge victorious? The fate of Japan hangs in the balance.

Demo was up during Next Fest. 

[Syt]

Was it any good?