It's amazing just how much better games have been from indie devs and smaller publishers. I don't see a single game from EA, Ubisoft, or Activision on there.
Cost cutting and designing for the lowest common denominator. Suits are afraid to take risks, because they want to sell to the widest possible audience. So they end up playing it safe and making bland milquetoast games that all feel exactly the same.
In fairness even if a big studio released a great game, enough people would either try it and not like it, or just give a bad review because it's EA, that it wouldn't make this list.
The fact that Wolfquest, an educational game from the 2000s is on there, is absolutely mind blowing to me. I remember playing that game as a kid with my sister and it being beyond a buggy fun mess lol.
Hate to say it, but you might be missing out on something you won't ever be able to experience again afterwards. It's like with episodic releases of TV shows, half the fun is sitting with friends discussing and overthinking what just happened while you wait for the next episode. Being there too long after community wide revelations, you can't experience that head space of mystery and surprise again. Deltarune handles the episodic releases very well honestly, I'd understand if it was a series of bad partial releases.
Agreed, as much fun as I've had playing the game itself, there's a lot of fun and magic talking with my kids about it and sharing theories and stuff, watching videos about theories and discoveries, anticipating what will happen next, all that. Then again I'm older, so the wait doesn't feel as long as I'm sure it does to younger folks
It counts the keyboard taps & cursor clicks (optional) that you make, and your desktop pet cat taps whenever you type/click. As a reward for your tippity tappity productivity, you periodically get random cat costumes and skins. You can also buy/sell the costumes & reskins on the steam community marketplace.
It doesn't work on Linux for me (mint btw), but I use it on my school laptop
I'm not sure how segregation/listening of inputs works between software in Linux, but if there's a way around it to get bongo cat to work... 👉👈
X11 lets any window constantly monitor keyboard input in the background, but in Wayland, only the active foreground window can by default. I unfortunately don't know of a trivial workaround to allow that currently.
Rhythm Doctor is a good rhythm game. My only real complaint is that it's short. I would have liked more levels that gradually increased the complexity of newly introduced mechanics. You get a short tutorial and then it's straight into the frying pan! And some mechanics are only in a single level!
Other than that though... Loved it. Great game. I get the songs stuck in my head a lot!
If you need more, there're A LOT of custom levels.
You can find them in either https://rhythm.cafe/ (better levels overall) or the Steam Workshop integration. (is more shitty).
Oh yeah I know that. I meant as a progression sort of thing. There's little ramp up to new mechanics most of the time. Sometimes there's tutorials for new mechanics on the boss levels!
But like I said, I still love the game. It's just something I noticed.
::: spoiler Spoilers for the actual game!
The boss levels don't introduce mechanics.
Well...except 5-X, but that only adds a cue to say the speed is doubling/halving. Nothing new.
6-X just gives you a heads up about the rhythm being funky.
:::
I felt like Deltarune was a bit lacklustre compared to Undertale. Even though Undertale had very basic gameplay, it did a good job in implementing that. Deltarune feels too over the place. Undertale had a better story as well. Might just be me though. :ablobcatblink:
Haha, Wobbly Life.. my kid picked it to spend Nintendo gift card money on. It's like GTA for kids, big open city map, drive cars around, do little jobs, respawn quickly when you get thrown across the map because you got hit by a train
Am I missing something about wobbly life? All the reviews are great on xbox and its mad popular. I tried it and its just so much nothing. Worse than nothing, janky controlled nothing.
But then like its so popular and well praised that im sure im wrong here.
I usually try to go in pretty much blind to anything I play or watch, but I watched a gaming related YouTube video that flipping ruined what I really would have wanted to not know about undertale.
I keep expecting to find some gnarly shit like was in the previous game and I haven't found it. IDK if it's just not there to find, or if the shit is even more esoteric than before.
I'm also quite confused by the fan tributes and favorites. Not against it, or anything, I just don't understand things like why Mr. Tenna is so popular. 🤷♂️
If you're looking for gnarly shit, I highly suggest playing the weird route. When you start a new chapter 2 save file, backtrack ::: spoiler spoiler
when noelle first joins your party. Then try using her ice magic.
:::
Chapter 3 doesn't really have content exclusive to this route, and in chapter 4 it will be obvious what you beed to do.
I agree about Tenna. Most of the fandom's favourite characters are secret bosses or incredibly obscure and mysterious. If you don't do a 100% playthrough you don't get the full story of deltarune, it's sad.
It may indeed be repetitve but Its so satisfying. Yesterday at midnight I told myself I would just sell some more Sweet Smegma and call it a night but next thing I know its 2 AM and it only felt like 10 min.
50 Comments
tuckerm@feddit.online · 95 pts · 226d
It's amazing just how much better games have been from indie devs and smaller publishers. I don't see a single game from EA, Ubisoft, or Activision on there.
happytortoise@lemmy.zip · 39 pts · 226d
Indie devs don’t have to deal with interference from suits who are obsessed with cost cutting and wholly out of touch with what people want
mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 25 pts · 226d
Cost cutting and designing for the lowest common denominator. Suits are afraid to take risks, because they want to sell to the widest possible audience. So they end up playing it safe and making bland milquetoast games that all feel exactly the same.
SleeplessCityLights@programming.dev · 9 pts · 225d
A dish made to please all palates is a bland dish.
gmtom@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 225d
In fairness even if a big studio released a great game, enough people would either try it and not like it, or just give a bad review because it's EA, that it wouldn't make this list.
Indie games don't have that problem.
imecth@fedia.io · 2 pts · 225d
Steam reviews aren't really a good quality metric, a 6/10 game can have 95% ratings, it's the rotten tomatoes of video games.
ampersandrew@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 223d
Split Fiction is published by EA.
fakeman_pretendname@feddit.uk · 38 pts · 226d
I'm a little shocked by how few of those I've even heard of
Krompus@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 225d
Damn, have a look at each of them, there is some excellent gaming here.
fakeman_pretendname@feddit.uk · 2 pts · 225d
Absolutely, I plan to :)
echodot@feddit.uk · 6 pts · 226d
I've heard of four of the games on the list and it's the four you would think.
Rusty@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 226d
I've only heard about Clair Obscur because of the AI art drama.
data_science_rocks@scribe.disroot.org · 3 pts · 224d
Zoot@reddthat.com · 2 pts · 223d
The fact that Wolfquest, an educational game from the 2000s is on there, is absolutely mind blowing to me. I remember playing that game as a kid with my sister and it being beyond a buggy fun mess lol.
echodot@feddit.uk · 1 pts · 226d
I haven't heard of anything on the list until we get to 8, and I only recognise the name I have no idea what the gameplay is like.
carotte@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 25 pts · 226d
honestly surprised so few people mentioned deltarune during the GOTY discussions
maybe because it’s not technically fully released yet?
flamingos@feddit.uk · 25 pts · 226d
Chapter one also released in 2018 (7 years ago), so the game doesn't really feel like it's from this year.
binarytobis@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 226d
Personally, I hate partial releases so I haven’t played it yet, despite loving Undertale.
ClamDrinker@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 225d
Hate to say it, but you might be missing out on something you won't ever be able to experience again afterwards. It's like with episodic releases of TV shows, half the fun is sitting with friends discussing and overthinking what just happened while you wait for the next episode. Being there too long after community wide revelations, you can't experience that head space of mystery and surprise again. Deltarune handles the episodic releases very well honestly, I'd understand if it was a series of bad partial releases.
whelk@retrolemmy.com · 5 pts · 225d
Agreed, as much fun as I've had playing the game itself, there's a lot of fun and magic talking with my kids about it and sharing theories and stuff, watching videos about theories and discoveries, anticipating what will happen next, all that. Then again I'm older, so the wait doesn't feel as long as I'm sure it does to younger folks
turkalino@sh.itjust.works · 20 pts · 226d
Warms my nub to see Nubby at nubmber 9 🥲
heatermcteets@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 226d
A surprisingly fun game. It exceeded my expectations. I have played it more than I thought I would.
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 225d
wait tell me about bongo cat
BlindFrog@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 224d
It counts the keyboard taps & cursor clicks (optional) that you make, and your desktop pet cat taps whenever you type/click. As a reward for your tippity tappity productivity, you periodically get random cat costumes and skins. You can also buy/sell the costumes & reskins on the steam community marketplace.
It doesn't work on Linux for me (mint btw), but I use it on my school laptop
I'm not sure how segregation/listening of inputs works between software in Linux, but if there's a way around it to get bongo cat to work... 👉👈
yermaw@sh.itjust.works · 8 pts · 224d
That sounds suspiciously like the virus-riddled desktop buddies of the late 90s
BlindFrog@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 224d
Gawdl3y@pawb.social · 2 pts · 224d
X11 lets any window constantly monitor keyboard input in the background, but in Wayland, only the active foreground window can by default. I unfortunately don't know of a trivial workaround to allow that currently.
CosmoNova@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 226d
This is a fine list of games to play.
Phunter@lemmy.zip · 8 pts · 225d
Rhythm Doctor is a good rhythm game. My only real complaint is that it's short. I would have liked more levels that gradually increased the complexity of newly introduced mechanics. You get a short tutorial and then it's straight into the frying pan! And some mechanics are only in a single level!
Other than that though... Loved it. Great game. I get the songs stuck in my head a lot!
somerandomperson@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 4 pts · 225d
If you need more, there're A LOT of custom levels.
You can find them in either https://rhythm.cafe/ (better levels overall) or the Steam Workshop integration. (is more shitty).
Phunter@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 225d
Oh yeah I know that. I meant as a progression sort of thing. There's little ramp up to new mechanics most of the time. Sometimes there's tutorials for new mechanics on the boss levels!
But like I said, I still love the game. It's just something I noticed.
somerandomperson@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 225d
::: spoiler Spoilers for the actual game! The boss levels don't introduce mechanics.
Well...except 5-X, but that only adds a cue to say the speed is doubling/halving. Nothing new.
6-X just gives you a heads up about the rhythm being funky. :::
captainlezbian@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 225d
That makes perfect sense. I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't like it would try it
craftrabbit@lemmy.zip · 7 pts · 224d
There are some insanely random games in there
mkmusic@torishiro.com · 6 pts · 225d
I felt like Deltarune was a bit lacklustre compared to Undertale. Even though Undertale had very basic gameplay, it did a good job in implementing that. Deltarune feels too over the place. Undertale had a better story as well. Might just be me though. :ablobcatblink:
@Fanfic_Galore@lemmy.world @games@lemmy.world
dwemthy@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 225d
Haha, Wobbly Life.. my kid picked it to spend Nintendo gift card money on. It's like GTA for kids, big open city map, drive cars around, do little jobs, respawn quickly when you get thrown across the map because you got hit by a train
yermaw@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 224d
Am I missing something about wobbly life? All the reviews are great on xbox and its mad popular. I tried it and its just so much nothing. Worse than nothing, janky controlled nothing.
But then like its so popular and well praised that im sure im wrong here.
yersinda@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 225d
Not expecting dream bbq! It's not the most mechanically complex game but big ups to joelg
ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de · 5 pts · 225d
Clicked on steam "parallel story to Undertell".
Cool. I've heard of Undertell before, I should maybe get that first to play. "Click". "This game is already in your steam library".....
Harvey656@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 225d
Oh wow, its amazing you've never played it yet. Go in blind. A life changing game.
ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de · 1 pts · 225d
I usually try to go in pretty much blind to anything I play or watch, but I watched a gaming related YouTube video that flipping ruined what I really would have wanted to not know about undertale.
Harvey656@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 224d
Its still pretty worth it. Would give it a shot regardless. Its not particularly long, so not much to loose
Kolanaki@pawb.social · 4 pts · 226d
I keep expecting to find some gnarly shit like was in the previous game and I haven't found it. IDK if it's just not there to find, or if the shit is even more esoteric than before.
I'm also quite confused by the fan tributes and favorites. Not against it, or anything, I just don't understand things like why Mr. Tenna is so popular. 🤷♂️
brightwindow@lemmynsfw.com · 1 pts · 225d
If you're looking for gnarly shit, I highly suggest playing the weird route. When you start a new chapter 2 save file, backtrack ::: spoiler spoiler when noelle first joins your party. Then try using her ice magic. :::
The deltarune wiki has an article detaling exactly how to get it (you will get mildly spoiled): https://deltarune.wiki/w/Weird_Route/Chapter_2
Chapter 3 doesn't really have content exclusive to this route, and in chapter 4 it will be obvious what you beed to do.
I agree about Tenna. Most of the fandom's favourite characters are secret bosses or incredibly obscure and mysterious. If you don't do a 100% playthrough you don't get the full story of deltarune, it's sad.
Zahille7@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 225d
Nice. I've played two of these (Schedule I and Abiotic Factor).
goodboyjojo@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 225d
Nice. I heard it was a good game
acme401@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 224d
Suit for Hire is my GOTY
saltesc@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 225d
WolfQuest RP servers were not what I thought they'd be. They are definitely not playing the season through cooperatively but without using the chat.
AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 224d
Who the hell out there is leaving a negative review on Schedule I? Are there actually Drug Dealer Sim fanboys?
SippyCup@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 224d
5k ish negative reviews and they seem to come in two flavors, multiplayer bugs and too repetitive.
undeffeined@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 224d
It may indeed be repetitve but Its so satisfying. Yesterday at midnight I told myself I would just sell some more Sweet Smegma and call it a night but next thing I know its 2 AM and it only felt like 10 min.