This Week in Gaming (Week 27)

[TheLostSwede]

And just like that, we're in the second half of 2024. The first week of July brings with it a major release, at least if you're into futuristic online RPGs. Unfortunately, the rest of this week's new releases are mediocre at best and this seems to be a theme for the summer of 2024, unless you like pointless clicking games that is. At least the week starts with a new strategy game that involves knights, but from there it fizzles out in a DLC, a computer version of a classic family game, a retro version of an Xbox franchise and a creepy game in a pool. Oh and happy 4th of July to our US readers.

The First Descendant / This week's major release / Tuesday 2 July
The First Descendant is a free third-person cooperative action RPG shooter featuring high-quality graphics. Experience the fun of strategic boss fights through 4-player co-op and various unique characters, exciting gunplay, and looting. A variety of equipment is necessary for growth, and you can obtain them through clearing scenario missions within the game or in the World Missions where cooperation is crucial and battles with huge bosses. Steam link




Kingdom, Dungeon, and Hero / Monday 1 July
Kingdom, Dungeon, and Hero is a fantasy strategy and adventure game. Immerse yourself in a realm of horrors, magic, and strategic conquest on a hex-based map with a board game feel. Form armies, expand an economy, negotiate agreements, send heroes off on missions, explore dungeons, find magic items and artifacts to help you win the game. Steam link



Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail / This week's DLC / Tuesday 2 July
Blue seas, clear skies, and boundless possibilities await in Dawntrail, the newest expansion pack for the critically acclaimed FINAL FANTASY XIV Online! Explore uncharted territories with familiar faces as you discover new tribes, confront formidable threats, and expand your horizons as hope's light dawns once more. Steam link



4 in a row / Wednesday 3 July
Astoundingly simple and exciting every time: Who will be the first to arrange four of their chips in a row - vertically, horizontally or diagonally? Block your opponent and draw them into your trap. But be careful not to fall into a trap yourself. Entertaining brain training for two bright minds! Steam link



Spartan Firefight - Free Edition / Thursday 4 July
Get ready for the Firefight! From the creators of Spartan Runner comes a new action-packed game: Spartan Firefight. Battle against waves of enemies across a variety of game modes and maps in under five minutes. Unlock and upgrades powerful weapons to help you in your task. Purchase and collect skins, helmets, shoulders and more to create your unique Spartan. Steam link



Poolrooms / Friday 5 July
Dive into an expansive complex of interconnected rooms and corridors, all slightly submerged in undulating, lukewarm water. The architecture is both varied and strict, with each area connecting in a senseless manner, devoid of any easily identifiable purpose. Pillars protrude from the water, staircases descend into deep pits, and light casts irregular shadows, leaving some areas shrouded in darkness. Steam link

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Chaitanya]

Not going to celebrate US holdiay, will be playing with couple of new routers with 4G modems and openwrt installed by default.

 

[SN2716057]

Also not going to celebrate a US holiday. Have to make room for a dedicated racing/driving sim setup, and other things related to life.

 

[KrazyT]

Poolrooms ?
What the hell is this game ?
Is it an horror one ?
It looks like it !

 

[TheLostSwede]

Poolrooms ?
What the hell is this game ?
Is it an horror one ?
It looks like it !

It was the least bad option for the 5th of July.
I was going to do this one first, but it's not a game.

CloudStudy on Steam

An online study room shared by players around the world. Those who work hard for their dreams are welcome to join.

store.steampowered.com

This didn't look too exciting either.

Calculate It on Steam

We've made a calculator roguelike! Yes, it's not a joke. A boring device has turned into an interesting strategy, where each calculator you collect sets its own style of play. Can you count all the numbers and prove who's the king of calculations here?

store.steampowered.com

 

[rojo]

I guess I'll be voting on that day. God knows why as either main party is useless.

 

[Sithaer]

Played all of the previous betas of the First Descendant so I'm gonna check the full game out.
The game can be played solo or at least the betas had the option for it, I assume parties will be needed for the end game/harder content tho but I will give it a chance since I like games like this. 'looter shooter mix of Destiny and Warframe kind of game'

 

[mechtech]

Not going to celebrate US holdiay, will be playing with couple of new routers with 4G modems and openwrt installed by default.

Going to celebrate Canada Day July 1st holiday by sleeping in

 

[Aylimta]

I think calling Dawntrail just a 'dlc' is kinda underselling it..

 

[TheLostSwede]

I guess I'll be voting on that day. Good knows why as either main party is useless.

There are more options than two though.

I think calling Dawntrail just a 'dlc' is kinda underselling it..

It does require the main game though, no?

Going to celebrate Canada Day July 1st holiday by sleeping in

Sorry, Canada has its own holidays?

 

[nomdeplume]

Oh and happy 4th of July to our US readers.

Thank you, how nice to remember us.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

The First Descendant is F2P and published by Nexon. Im expecting it to be heavily monitised and possibly even pay to win.

 

[Sithaer]

The First Descendant is F2P and published by Nexon. Im expecting it to be heavily monitised and possibly even pay to win.

https://www.reddit.com/r/TheFirstDescendant/comments/1dp601c
TLDR:

The cash shop is mostly consistent of skins and upgrade items (to bypass gathering mats).
Everything is subject to change, but if nothing does, then here is what was available during the test.

Basically you can buy stuff to speed up your progress/unlocking characters instead of farming it out if you want to and the rest are skins/battle pass.

For what its worth I've played another free2play Nexon game 'Vindictus' for ~7 years actively and all I've ever spent money on were the cosmetics and I did have multiple end game capable characters at the time/before I've quited.
Downside is that I had to play the game very actively like never miss an event/rewards + daily Raids with my guild and whatnot. 'there was nothing to win anyway so if someone wanted to pay that much just to flex their e peen at the Raid dps % screen then by all means do that '

Personally I don't mind the cash shop since its not exactly a competitive game, my main concern is the end game with random ppl cause I aint going down the MMO guild thingy route again thats for sure.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

https://www.reddit.com/r/TheFirstDescendant/comments/1dp601c
TLDR:

The cash shop is mostly consistent of skins and upgrade items (to bypass gathering mats).
Everything is subject to change, but if nothing does, then here is what was available during the test.

Basically you can buy stuff to speed up your progress/unlocking characters instead of farming it out if you want to and the rest are skins/battle pass.

For what its worth I've played another free2play Nexon game 'Vindictus' for ~7 years actively and all I've ever spent money on were the cosmetics and I did have multiple end game capable characters at the time/before I've quited.
Downside is that I had to play the game very actively like never miss an event/rewards + daily Raids with my guild and whatnot. 'there was nothing to win anyway so if someone wanted to pay that much just to flex their e peen at the Raid dps % screen then by all means do that '

Personally I don't mind the cash shop since its not exactly a competitive game, my main concern is the end game with random ppl cause I aint going down the MMO guild thingy route again thats for sure.

Yeah. Games made 7+ years ago dont really compare to the games that are made today in this current climate

 

[Sithaer]

Yeah. Games made 7+ years ago dont really compare to the games that are made today in this current climate

That really depends, supposedly their mobile gacha Blue Archive is also decently f2p friendly considering everything. '2021 game'
Betas were promising so I will give them a chance cause the gameplay was fun to me. 'like I said its like a mix of Warframe and Destiny/looter shooter in general'

I'm also playing another gacha game for 1.5+ years now since its launch day 'my avatar character is from that game' and I'm doing just fine as a f2p so I'm familiar with the climate. 'bought 1 skin so far so yeh no paying for progress/gacha pulls'
The thing is with current f2p online games is that you HAVE to put time into it and stay active cause the event rewards are important/must have if you don't want to pay but still make progress.

 

[64K]

I just never think of a F2P as free. free-to-grind if you don't spend some money on microtransactions is usually more accurate. The game has to make money one way or another to pay for development and the servers. It's amazing how successful some of these are. Like League of Legends for example taking in well over a billion dollars a year from microtransactions.

 

[Sithaer]

I just never think of a F2P as free. free-to-grind if you don't spend some money on microtransactions is usually more accurate. The game has to make money one way or another to pay for development and the servers. It's amazing how successful some of these are. Like League of Legends for example taking in well over a billion dollars a year from microtransactions.

I don't mind the grindy part 'I grew up playing grindy games like ARPGs so ye..' as long as I can do it on my own for the most part its alright.
I treat F2P games as long term investment/plan where I slowly make my progress and eventually still end up doing the same end game/daily content as everyone else anyway. 'if someone feels like paying for faster progression them thats on then and it doesn't really bother me + they pay for my free2play gaming in a sense'

Skins/cosmetics I might buy depending on how much time I've invested into the game already and plan to keep playing it.
In Nikke it took me 1.5 years to break my 100% F2P status with a limited time skin. 'I just had to get that and I felt like its about time I show some support to a game that I love'

And yea such games can make some crazy money thats for sure.

 

[Aylimta]

It does require the main game though, no?

Yes but have you not heard about the unlimited until level 70 free trial of the critically acclaimed mmorpg Final Fantasy 14

In seriousness though, when I hear 'dlc' my mind pictures 'horse armour' not an entire expansion pack. And as the meme suggests, the base game is technically free for new players just sayin

 

[Adrian Andrzejewski]

How much should be spent on marketing to promote the "4 in a row" game?

 

[TheLostSwede]

Yes but have you not heard about the unlimited until level 70 free trial of the critically acclaimed mmorpg Final Fantasy 14

In seriousness though, when I hear 'dlc' my mind pictures 'horse armour' not an entire expansion pack. And as the meme suggests, the base game is technically free for new players just sayin

I have never played any Final Fantasy game, so no, I haven't heard of that I'm afraid.
DLC is the same as expansion these days.

How much should be spent on marketing to promote the "4 in a row" game?

It was that or this.

Meh on Steam

Meh is a game where you click on a computer to earn random computers from time to time. Collect them all!

store.steampowered.com

 

[mechtech]

Sorry, Canada has its own holidays?

A few lol

Canadian statutory holidays in 2024

Dates of 2024 holidays in Canada. Information about official and unofficial stat holidays for 2024.

www.statutoryholidays.com

Our July 1st ~ USA July 4th

Canada Day - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[L'Eliminateur]

The First Descendant looks interesting because i desperately want coop games. ¿but what's the angle on that game?, because a f2p coop i see it very hard to monetize, ¿what's the catch?

 

[AusWolf]

Poolrooms ?
What the hell is this game ?
Is it an horror one ?
It looks like it !

Looking at the screenshots I thought "what a lazy level design for a game that's meant to be about level design", then I read the description and went "oooh!" It's on my wishlist now.

 

[64K]

Looking at the screenshots I thought "what a lazy level design for a game that's meant to be about level design", then I read the description and went "oooh!" It's on my wishlist now.

I must be missing something here. It's described as a psychological horror experience. I read the description. I watched the video twice. I saw no hint of anything that might be scary. No monster closets. No jump scares. No creepy things swimming around in the pools that want to seriously kill me dead. Why is it horror?

 

[AusWolf]

I must be missing something here. It's described as a psychological horror experience. I read the description. I watched the video twice. I saw no hint of anything that might be scary. No monster closets. No jump scares. No creepy things swimming around in the pools that want to seriously kill me dead. Why is it horror?

Maybe because you're alone in a weird place? Dunno, just guessing. It looks more like a puzzle game to me, to be honest.