Tag: Video Games

I am always late to the party. Like, really, really late.

One of the streamers I consistently watch has played Darkest Dungeon off and on over the years, but oddly, I never actually stuck around to catch the gameplay. A couple of months ago, I finally stuck around for a Darkest Dungeon stream, and it looked like something I would enjoy. When I asked Rugjen about it, he said, “I don’t think you would like it. It’s hard.”

That immediately stopped me in my tracks because Rugjen knows that I don’t like games that are hard just for the sake of being hard (looking at you Dark Souls/Sekiro/Bloodborne).

As the days passed, this game was still beckoning to me from the darkest recesses of my mind. I looked it up on Steam, and like a call from a siren, Steam just happened to have it on sale for $6.00 with an hour left in the sale. Probably the best $6.00 I spent on a game. At the time of this article, you can pick up Darkest Dungeon at full price for $24.99 on Steam. It does go on sale frequently, so I suggest keeping an eye on the price. That being said, it is worth $25.

Darkest Dungeon is a roguelike RPG. What is a roguelike RPG? Whenever you come across the term “roguelike” or “roguelite”, it refers to a genre of game in a dungeon-like setting where you move room to room or level to level. There is usually a permanent death element where you may or may not be able to carry over equipment, talents, and/or currency. Most roguelike games are also turn-based.

The game is rated T for teen for references to alcohol, some nudity, gore, and violence. It is a dark game that could potentially be stressful for certain people, so I suggest watching some gameplay if you know that could be a factor.

The gameplay is centered around building a team of four heroes to take on expeditions in various dungeons. Each hero has a both positive and negative quirks that affect how the hero interacts in the dungeon. Each hero also has various skills that can be swapped in and out to become a better fit for different dungeons. For example, the vestal, which is a healing class, can be spec’d to be a true healer, or a damage-dealing healer. You can potentially have two of the same class in a party, but with two very different roles. After each expedition, you return to The Hamlet, the small town that provides stress relief and upgrades. With each expedition, you gather heirlooms that allow you to upgrade the buildings in The Hamlet allowing you to purchase upgrades for your armor and skills. Most expeditions reward the team with trinkets that allow for more customization of damage, speed, and other skills. As you lose heroes, and you will lose heroes, the stagecoach offers up fresh meat for the grinder.

What Makes Darkest Dungeon Great

In my opinion, what makes this game great is the sheer amount of options you have. There really is no one way to approach each boss. While there may be a general strategy, it is very flexible on how you decide to achieve it. Personally, I get bored very quickly with games which makes roguelikes very appealing to me. Even though the gameplay is the same, the context is different enough to keep me going back.

Is it Really Hard?

I’ve had this discussion with Rugjen and I’ll echo the same sentiments here. When someone tells me a game is “hard”, I immediately think of the skill required to play a game. I don’t think the game is hard to learn or hard to play. There is not a lot of gaming skill needed to play Darkest Dungeon. By gaming skill, I am talking more about reliance on reaction speed and muscle memory. For example, ever watch a kaizo Mario player? They will grind levels for hours to get the right muscle memory engrained. To me, that is what “hard” means to me. You don’t need to memorize boss fights or practice any timing in Darkest Dungeon. The game, on PC, literally only requires you to use WASD to move and mouse-clicks to choose your skill and select the enemy you plan to execute the attack on. So, to say that the game is “hard”, to me, is misleading. The game isn’t hard; the game is challenging. You might think I am splitting hairs, and maybe I am, but I feel Darkest Dungeon is very playable for any skill level. What makes it challenging is being able to juggle all of the elements the game gives you to build a strong team. If strategy or party management is not your strength, this game will be difficult for you.

That being said, I’ll disclose that I play on the easiest difficulty because I was new to the game and it was suggested by many to do a run through on the easiest difficulty to get a feel for the game. I whole-heartedly agree. There is a lot to learn and frustrating yourself with a harder difficulty out of the gate may make your attitude toward the game turn sour before you even really get a chance to play.

I have so much fun playing this game. Finding the right combinations of skills and trinkets to take down the bosses has been challenging, but very, very fun. I highly recommend adding this game to your library. I’ve been playing it non-stop since I bought it!

A few weeks ago, Pyroplop started telling me about Grounded. He had played the demo and thought that it was right up my alley. And, he is right. I love open-world survival games that incorporate crafting elements, and that is exactly what Grounded is. Early access was released on July 28, 2020. I have the XBOX Game Pass, so I am playing on PC.

What is early access?
Grounded is an early-release survival action game. Currently, you can play for free if you have XBOX Game Pass. Otherwise, you can purchase access from Steam for $29.99. If you aren’t familiar with early-access games, be aware that early access means the game is not complete. Early access gives players the ability to assist in the development process by reporting bugs and other issues to the developers so they can move the game toward alpha/beta phases and, then, final release. Early-access has become a more frequent part of the gaming community, so be aware that you are not purchasing/playing a fully completed game, so go into game play with an open mind.

Unfortunately, after two days of hardcore game play, I already found myself being seduced by boredom and no amount of open mindedness seemed to motivate me to continue playing.

What I liked
I almost feel guilty for feeling the way that I do. It is a visually stunning game. You will not be disappointed with the look of the game. I also love the concept. In Grounded, your character wakes up in a strange place and has seemingly forgotten the events leading up to the current state of things. You explore the yard hoping to find clues to restore your memory on how you ended up in such a small state. Of course, not everything in the yard is going to see you as non-threatening, so you have to do your best to survive. From building shelters, to finding suitable food sources, it has all the makings of a very solid open-world survival game.

Bugs. Let’s talk bugs. They are so well done. If you’re a bug enthusiast, you may get giddy at how the ants quizzically look at you, or how the ladybugs seem to chatter at you. And then, there are the spiders. If you have a severe case of arachnophobia, the game has an arachnophobia mode to make the spiders less threatening.

Building. I really like how simple the building aspect of the game is. You chop some weeds for “wood”, slap on some grass/clover and you have a basic base. What I REALLY love is the blueprint feature. Before you actually craft, a blueprint can be placed without using your resources. That way, you can technically build a draft of your base and make changes without spending resources. Also, if you don’t have all of the resources, you can still apply it to the blueprint. You don’t need all of the supplies on you to begin your building endeavors. By far, one of the best features of this game.

Crafting. Crafting is also super easy and not over complicated. As you discover items, you use a science base to analyze them for new recipes. It beats having to hunt down recipes.

What Fell Short

As I mentioned, this is an early-access game. So, my opinions are solely based on what I, personally, found lacking that tarnished my enjoyment of the game in its current state. In no way am I condemning an incomplete game. I’m simply sharing why I think I lost interest so quickly in its current state with no consideration placed on what has been promised to be added.

Game Progression. I play quite a bit of 7 Days to Die which is, in my opinion, the gold standard of an early release/alpha/beta game. 7 Days has been around for years and is still comfortably sitting in the alpha phase of testing. Despite being an incomplete game, they’ve done well to keep me coming back.

The open-survival genre is simple. You’re dropped into a world, you start with nothing, and you have to slowly gather/create the things you need to survive. As you level up, your stats grow and you, as the adventurer, grows stronger. Where Grounded fell short for me is the distinct lack of noticeable progression. In most games, there is some sort of leveling system which Grounded completely lacks. This bothered me. In fact, it bothered me a lot more than I thought it would if I am being perfectly honest. I played for days and it made me feel like I was working toward nothing. I quickly discovered something about myself that I did not know prior to playing Grounded. I apparently need a leveling system to get enough gaming satisfaction to keep me interested. If you’re an explorer and love to unlock different areas, I can see how the game, in this current state, would keep you interested. I am not an explorer. I like exploring in conjunction with a story line, and that is just a personal preference. No right or wrong.

The Story Mode was INSANELY short. I think it took me less than a couple hours to complete what story mode they had available. Again, before you start gathering the pitchforks and torches, I understand it is in early access, but if I am being perfectly honest, it wasn’t enough to charge $29.99 on Steam for. I do think some of you will be very disappointed. That being said, that price does afford you all future updates through final release, but be aware that you might be met with initial disappointment. Once you finish the initial story content, you do get a message that content will be added as the game develops. Who knows how often or how soon that will be.

Inventory Management. The lack of good inventory management can make or break a game for me. Unfortunately, Grounded has a lack of the basic inventory management features that other games in the genre have. Specifically, I could not figure out how I could easily move stacks of items from my inventory to my storage without drag and dropping. In most games in the genre, you have a keyboard + mouse shortcut that will deposit stacks of items into your storage. I couldn’t find that in Grounded. There is also a lack of sorting. If you’ve figured these things out, leave a comment below and educate me, because I was struggling. Again, I try not to compare it to other games, but honestly, that is hard. It would be like playing a first-person shooter and “R” isn’t the default reload. There is a reason the unspoken standard exists. Some people appreciate being different. When it comes to standard gaming controls, I do not!

Food/Water Requirements. I was playing on the default mode, which I believe is called “Medium”. The rate at which one needs food and water is a bit, and I use this term loosely, but, well…unrealistic. Your character will drink a droplet larger than the character’s head, and yet, shortly after, you need more water. While food and water are relatively easy to find, it is an annoyance. This is easily remedied by playing in creative mode. I can always do that.

The Lack of Information on How to Use Crafted Items. Some tool tips or an in-game tutorial when you make new items that have certain restrictions would be nice. For some of you, finding this out on your own might be your cup of tea. A tool tip feature can easily be turned on or off, and maybe I didn’t do enough exploring to figure it out. If I did, feel free to let me know in the comments.

These were the main issues that I think contributed to my very fast burnout. There are a few game bugs that are also annoying, but not a deal breaker. For example, in the menu system, it will show a keyboard shortcut, but it won’t work. I’m not going into all the bugs I ran into, because overall, they did not contribute to how bored I got with the game. I was easily able to overlook any glitch/bug.

I think that a lot of what made me lose interest is simply because it is an early release game. I think if you have a better set of skills to overlook what the game is missing and are able to appreciate the game for what it is in its current state, you will probably enjoy this game a lot.

For now, I am going to tuck the game away and wait for a few more updates before starting all over. Do I recommend it? I do. I think it is going to be a fantastic game once more content is available. Again, if you have a XBox Game Pass, it is absolutely free to play, so you really don’t have anything to lose. However, if you don’t, I would recommend that you wait. You might be disappointed in what your $30 buys you.