I played during Steam Next Fest and loved it, so I didn't hesitate to pick Dome Keeper up at launch and play right away. Normal difficulty is much easier than the demo had been, and I was able to win my first relic hunt game. I'm noticing increased polish in many areas, and the core tension between the two halves of the gameplay is as excellent as ever. I look forward to trying more gadgets, larger maps, higher difficulty levels, and the new prestige score-attack mode.

I managed to finish that obstacle course just in time as the free weekend was ending.

Free weekend following release. The main game is a wave-based co-op combat or versus mode, and the fighting is fun enough, but I discovered a precision platforming challenge off to the side of the hub/menu area. The game's jumping and swinging physics leave a high skill ceiling, and I spent at least two hours working on this challenge. I've gotten right up to the end and hope to finish it tomorrow. I wish there was more of this in the game; I like it a lot more than the combat.

I started playing the free version of Rail Route, The Story of Jozic, which is apparently a generously long demo and narrative campaign for the full game. It's nice, and I like the look of the train network UI a lot, which is why I was drawn to the game. Jozic sounds like a Santa Claus. So far I'm managing contracted trains with a lot of fiddly micro, sometimes with really tight timing as I move them around each other on parallel tracks and platforms. I don't feel like this is how the game is meant to be played at all; in videos it looks like a sprawling system of automated traffic, far too much for someone to manage manually. But even at the relatively simple level of complexity in which I find myself now I struggle to understand how to make things run so smoothly. The game is pushing me to switch to automatic signals, and even that first step intimidates me because I feel like I'll run into collisions if I don't handle signaling myself. I should take the leap and see what happens, but I also suspect that I should do a better job of creating parallel lines.

I tried out this free idle game mainly because I thought I could get something in Idle Champions if I did, but it's much too late for that, I've learned. However, it was an interesting experience nonetheless because Crusaders plays like a prototype of Champions in many respects. While it is enjoyable in its own right, I don't intend to spend more time with it since Champions is obviously both more complex and refined. I'm glad I took an hour or so to check Crusaders out, though, even if I can't get anything for it in Champions.

I've only had time to run through the tutorial (a "simulated" run and meet & greets with the faction vendors), but I'm excited for this sci-fi, colorful, accessible Tarkov-like.

Rubbish, shallow incremental game that just tells you exactly what to do constantly instead of presenting engaging systems.

Tried with Matt and Bud during a free weekend on Steam. Some elements that really appeal to me: diegetic computer terminals, self-locating and navigating by paying attention to signs and labels, tense tactical play and a need for communication, etc. The stealth is not the greatest, though, and it's pretty important. We grew frustrated near the end of the first mission because we reached our objective and couldn't find anything to interact with; learned later that we needed to carry some sort of receptacle from the start. We all agreed that we'd like to play it more, but we're also not willing to pay even the current sale price right now.

I previously played through roughly one quest and one planet with about 4 hours of play time a few years ago, so this isn't a true start date. However, enough time has gone by that I intend to create a second account to play through the beginning of the game again and refamiliarize myself with its world and systems. My desire to play was rekindled by FOMO (of course) when I saw news about the current anniversary event.

Played the demo; I don't own the full game yet. The tutorial is also apparently an easy-difficulty campaign, and I played that for a little over an hour.

The game seems all right. Its UI is pretty unpolished, and some things are confusing; but the overall campaign experience is sort of an RPG puzzle, like Desktop Dungeons. Battles can be a little stressful as you hate to watch units be lost, but there's definitely an appeal to this whole auto-battler thing for me. This isn't something I'll purchase urgently, but I'd be happy to play it more extensively eventually.